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Spiny Rats and Hutias
Echimyidae
Echimyidae is the family of neotropical spiny rats and their fossil relatives. This is the most species-rich family of hystricognath rodents. It is probably also the most ecologically diverse, with members ranging from fully arboreal to terrestrial to fossorial habits. They presently exist mainly in South America; three members of the family also range into Central America. Species of the extinct subfamily Heteropsomyinae formerly lived on Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico in the Antilles, probably until...
6 branches of this family, most-observed first · about 104 known species

Echimyines
subfamilyEchimyinae

Hutias
subfamilyCapromyinae

Atlantic Spiny Rats
subfamilyEuryzygomatomyinae
Caribbean Cave Rats
subfamilyHeteropsomyinae
Puertoricomys
genusPuertoricomys
Carterodontines
subfamilyCarterodontinae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Echimyidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 43909.