The ancestors of the genus are believed to have entered South America during the late Cretaceous.
Panamanian spiny pocket mice are nocturnal, and feed mainly on the nuts of palm trees such as Bactris and Attalea, although they also eat other plant material and some insects.
Bactris |
Heart of palm, also called palm heart, chonta, palm cabbage or swamp cabbage, is a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees (notably the coconut (Cocos nucifera), Palmito Juçara (Euterpe edulis), Açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea), sabal (Sabal spp.) and pejibaye (Bactris gasipaes) palms).