Coendou fossil map
Where fossils of Coendou have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 0 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 0 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early mammals |
|---|---|
| Lived | 3.6 million years ago to the present (Piacenzian to Holocene) |
| Periods | Neogene, Quaternary |
| Family | Erethizontidae |
| Named by | Lacépède 1799 |
| Fossil records | 34 occurrences at 15 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Peru, Panama |
| Rock formations | txn:42135, Tarija, Sopas, UquĂa, TimbĂşes |
About Coendou
The prehensile-tailed porcupines or coendous (genus Coendou) are found in Central and South America. Two other formerly recognized Neotropical tree porcupine genera, Echinoprocta and Sphiggurus, have been subsumed into Coendou, since Sphiggurus was shown by genetic studies to be polyphyletic, while Echinoprocta nested within Coendou.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Prehensile-tailed porcupine (revision 1373648985), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q868202.
