White-faced Spiny Tree-rat

Open encyclopedia reference

The white-faced spiny tree-rat (Echimys chrysurus) is a South American species of rodent in the family Echimyidae. It is restricted to forest and rainforest habitats in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname, living among the branches and feeding on fruit, plants, and insects. The rat's fur is darkest near the back of the head, which also has a distinctive white stripe. Its body is covered in stiff, blunt-tipped guard hairs or spines. Adults weigh up to 760 grams (27 ounces) and are 24 to 33 centimetres (9.4 to 13.0 inches) long, plus a tail that measures about 120% of the head-body length. The white-faced spiny tree-rat is nocturnal and produces two young in a litter. Its known predators include the ornate hawk-eagle and spectacled owl. First recorded in 1778 and described in 1780, it is a rarely seen species; few studies on the rat's ecology have been performed, and there are not many museum specimens.

Wikipedia contributors, White-faced spiny tree-rat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:27:54.751628+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Echimys chrysurus (Zimmermann, 1780)

Name authority

(Zimmermann, 1780)

Common name

White-faced Spiny Tree-rat

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Echimyidae

Genus

Echimys

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderHystricomorpha Brandt, 1855
13. infraorderHystricognathi Brandt, 1855
14. familyEchimyidae Gray, 1825
15. subfamilyEchimyinae Gray, 1825
16. tribeEchimyini Gray, 1825
17. genusEchimys G. Cuvier, 1809
18. speciesEchimys chrysurus (Zimmermann, 1780)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Echimys. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 94 records assigned to Echimyidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=584802 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:38FMQ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.