Family ECHIMYIDAE

(HUTIAS, SOUTH AMERICAN SPINY-RATS AND COYPU)

• Small to large rodents; omnivorous or herbivorous, with highly variable cheekteeth morphologies; spiny, harsh, or soft pelages; and locomotion includes arboreal, terrestrial, semi-fossorial, semi-aquatic, and scansorial lineages.

• • 20-100 cm.

• Neotropical Region.

• Lowland and highland forested habitats, lowland open dry habitats, and wetlands.

• 27 genera, 99 species, at least 130 extant taxa.

• 6 species Critically Endangered, 10 species Endangered, b species Vulnerable; 10 Extinct since 1600.