Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine

The Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine (Coendou spinosus) is a porcupine species from the family Erethizontidae.^[2] It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Erethizontidae
Genus:	Coendou
Species:	C. spinosus
Binomial name
Coendou spinosus (F. Cuvier, 1822)

Taxidermized specimen at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova

They have a short tail and gray brown quills and feed on fruits, ant pupae, vegetables and roots.

This species was formerly sometimes assigned to Sphiggurus,^[2] a genus no longer recognized since genetic studies showed it to be polyphyletic.^[3] The population formerly recognized as the orange-spined hairy dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus villosus)^[4] has been reclassified to this species.^[1] Its closest relatives are the bicolored-spined porcupine (Coendou bicolor) and the black dwarf porcupine (Coendou nycthemera).^[3]