''Thrichomys'' is a genus of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

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 lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are roden ...

s 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 ter ...

. It contains at least five species, found in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. They are as follows: *

Common punaré The common punaré (''Thrichomys apereoides''), is a species of spiny rat endemic to Brazil. Description Like other members of the genus ''Thrichomys'', but unlike all other species of spiny rat, common punarés have no spines, and instead have ...

(''Thrichomys apereoides'') * Foster's punaré (''Thrichomys fosteri)'' *

Highlands punaré The highlands punaré (''Thrichomys inermis'') is a caviomorph rodent of South America from the spiny rat family. It is endemic to gallery forest, savanna and rocky outcrop habitats in Bahia State within the Caatinga ecoregion of eastern Brazil ...

(''Thrichomys inermis'') *

Sao Lourenço punaré ''Thrichomys laurentius'', the Sao Lourenço punaré, is a South American caviomorph rodent of the spiny rat family. It was formerly considered a subspecies of '' T apereoides''. It is found in the northern Caatinga ecoregion of northeastern Bra ...

(''Thrichomys laurentius'') *

Paraguayan punaré The Paraguayan punaré (''Thrichomys pachyurus'') is a caviomorph rodent of South America from the spiny rat family. With its skull averaging 55 mm long, it is the largest species in the genus ''Thrichomys''. It is found in savannas and for ...

(''Thrichomys pachyurus'')

Phylogeny

The closest relatives of the genus ''Thrichomys'' are two clades consisting of pairs of Myocastorini genera: ''Callistomys'' (the painted tree-rat) and ''Myocastor'' (the coypu or nutria) in one clade, and ''Hoplomys'' (the armored rat) and ''Proechimys'' in the other.

References

Taxa named by Édouard Louis Trouessart Rodent genera {{Echimyidae-stub