The gray-footed spiny rat (''Proechimys poliopus'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

in the family

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 terr ...

. It is found in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Phylogeny

Morphological characters and mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequences showed that ''P. poliopus'' belongs to the so-called ''trinitatus'' group of ''Proechimys'' species, and shares closer phylogenetic affinities with the other members of this clade: '' P. trinitatus'', '' P. mincae'', '' P. guairae'', '' P. magdalenae'', '' P. chrysaeolus'', '' P. urichi'', and '' P. hoplomyoides''.

References

Proechimys Mammals of Colombia Mammals of Venezuela Mammals described in 1914 Taxa named by Wilfred Hudson Osgood Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Echimyidae-stub