Paul Carter. 8 July 2023.
Website: www.pacapix.com. Email: paulcarter@pacapix.com.
A citable version was posted on Zenodo here on 9 July 2023: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8128848
Summary
On the nights of 20 and 23 June 2023 I photographed Streaked Dwarf Porcupine (Coendou ichillus, Voss and da Silva, 2001) in lowland forest 60 km south of Iquitos (Loreto, northeastern Peru), having found both with a thermal scope whilst in the company of Juan Pacaya (a guide from Tahuayo Lodge). These two records appear to be the first in situ records from northeastern Peru. C. ichillus is a poorly known porcupine confirmed from only nine sites (Ramírez-Chaves et al, 2020). One of the two sites in Peru is the Iquitos area in northeastern Peru where the only known specimen is a juvenile purchased by Pekka Soini in 1971 from a market near Iquitos and its collection point was never known (Voss and da Silva, 2001).
Contents: (1) Site Data (2) Species Identification (3) Acknowledgements (4) References.
1. Site Data
These records are 60 km south of Iquitos and 2.4 km WSW of Chino, a small village on the Tahuayo River, a tributary of the Amazon River. The site is on the southern side of the Amazon River and within the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve described by Voss and Fleck (2011). They were seen on a trail from Tahuayo Lodge. Site data for the two records, referred to here as P1 and P2, are:
P1: S4.30956° W73.23964°. Elevation: 103 m. 900 m west of Tahuayo Lodge; 20 June 2023 at 9.52 PM; waypoint 861. Images are posted on iNat here.
P2: S4.30976° W73.23715°. Elevation: 100 m. 270 m east of P1; 23 June 2023 at 10.23 PM; waypoint 937. Images are posted on iNat here.
These sightings were in primary lowland forest that is subjected to seasonal flooding. This particular area was reportedly flooded until a month before the sightings.
C. ichillus remains poorly known in South America with records from only nine sites in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil as summarised by Ramírez-Chaves et al (2020; Table 1). One of the two sites in Peru is the Iquitos area in northeastern Peru where the only known specimen is a juvenile purchased by Pekka Soini in 1971 from a market near Iquitos and its collection point was never known (Voss and da Silva, 2001). All records of C. ichillus are from elevations between 100 and 980 m (Ramírez-Chaves et al, 2020). The P1 and P2 sightings are on the south-eastern limit of the distribution maps shown in Weksler et al (2016; Red List data) and iNaturalist (2023 June); the most southern point of that distribution shown as 90 km south of Iquitos. However, Ramírez-Chaves et al (2020 Fig 2) show an updated range map that extends 900 km south of Iquitos to include the Cusco area records of Gregory et al (2015), the only other site in Peru. iNaturalist (2023 June) shows only three records (unconfirmed), the nearest being a sighting in Brazil by Almeida (2019) that is approximately 400 km south of Iquitos.
2. Species Identification
C. ichillus was described by Voss and da Silva (2001) as one of four species of the Coendou vestitus group, a group of Coendou that have bristle quills. See Voss and da Silva (2001, Fig 1) for a description of these quill types. They describe C. ichillus as a “member of the C. vestitus group distinguished from other species by its long tail, lack of visible fur in the adult pelage, more extensively black-tipped quills, tricolored (pale-tipped) bristle-quills, spiny ventral pelage, and a unique combination of cranial traits” and where “the pale tips of the bristle-quills produce a characteristically streaked effect over the whole dorsum with the exception of the rump (which is covered only with short bicolored quills and a few wool hairs)”. C. ichillus is known as Streaked Dwarf Porcupine in iNaturalist (2023 June) and Western Amazonian Dwarf Porcupine in Mammal Diversity Database (v-1.10).
The images of P1 (Fig 2) show that it has bristle quills on the dorsum and mostly black-tipped yellow quills (bicoloured) and seemingly without three-banded (tricoloured) quills on the flanks. The images of P2 (Fig 3) show an extensive amount of bristle quills (on the dorsal areas and flanks). The images of P1 are primarily of the right side of the body whereas P2 was photographed on its left side so it was not possible to determine from morphological features whether they were the same individual or not.
Long-tailed Porcupine (Coendou longicaudatus), the only other species known in this area, was split from Coendou prehensilis, the latter now endemic to Brazil (Menezes et al, 2021). They do not have bristle quills. I photographed three individuals on 20 June with one shown in Fig 4 for quill comparison; these images show quills on the flanks that are black-banded white quills (tricoloured / three banded) and show the lack of bristle quills.
Figs 2a-c: Streaked Dwarf Porcupine (Coendou ichillus) – Individual P1 (image # 20230620-0166)
Figs 3a-b: Streaked Dwarf Porcupine (Coendou ichillus) – Individual P2 (image # 20230623-0320).
Figs 4a-c: Long-tailed Porcupine (Coendou longicaudatus) – images 20230620-0225 and -0226.
3. Acknowledgements
My thanks to Robert S. Voss (American Museum of Natural History) for confirming the identification of these individuals.
4. References
Note: iNat records below show date of observation and not date of publication.
Almeida MR (2019 Jan 21). Coendou ichillus. iNaturalist. www.inaturalist.org/observations/48937487.
Carter P (2023 June 20). Coendou ichillus. iNaturalist. www.inaturalist.org/observations/171844304.
Carter P (2023 June 23). Coendou ichillus. iNaturalist. www.inaturalist.org/observations/171845202.
iNaturalist (2023 June). Coendou ichillus. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/552461-Coendou-ichillus.
Mammal Diversity Database (2022 Dec 3). Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.10) [Data set]. Zenodo. Published 3 Dec 2022.
Menezes FH, Feijó A, Fernandes-Ferreira H, Costa IR, Cordeiro-Estrela P (2021). Integrative systematics of Neotropical porcupines of Coendou prehensilis complex (Rodentia: Erethizontidae). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 59:2410–2439.
Ramírez-Chaves HE, Carantón-Ayala D, Morales-Martínez DM, Rosero E (2020). Filling distribution gaps: first record of the Western Amazonian Dwarf Porcupine, Coendou ichillus Voss & Da Silva, 2001 (Mammalia, Rodentia), in the Napo Moist Forests ecoregion of Colombia. Check List 16(6)1627–1631. https://doi.org/10.15560/16.6.1627.
Voss RS, Da Silva MNF (2001). Revisionary notes on neotropical porcupines (Rodentia, Erethizontidae). A review of the Coendou vestitus group with descriptions of two new species from Amazonia. American Museum Novitates 3351:1–36.
Voss RS, Fleck DW (2011). Mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru. Part 1. Primates. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 351:1–81.
Weksler M, Anderson RP, Gómez-Laverde M (2016). Coendou ichillus. The IUCN Red List of threatened species. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T136597A22213629.en. Accessed on: 2023-6-24.