A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. Adaptations to ecological conditions may include morphological and physiological attributes, behavioural traits, social structure or a combination thereof (DeWitt et al., 1999; Heynen 2017; Koenig, 1981; Willmer 2005). These adaptations reinforce compensate each other Marshall & Wund, Mushagalusa 2019)...

Trinomys is a genus of terrestrial spiny rats from the Atlantic Forest, and three species occur in the state of Espírito Santo, eastern Brazil: T. gratiosus, T. paratus, and T. setosus. The levels of morphological variation within and among these species are virtually unknown, and their geographic ranges have not been properly assessed. These three species are externally very similar, hampering...