The common echymipera (Echymipera kalubu), or common spiny bandicoot, is a bandicoot. It is long-snouted even by bandicoot standards. The upper parts are a coarse reddish-brown, flecked with spiny buff and black hairs. The tail is short and almost hairless. Length varies between, with the tail accounting for an additional ; the weight is from .
The name kalubu, from which the scientific name is derived, is from the Ma'ya language of the Raja Ampat Islands.[1]
The common echymipera is native to New Guinea. Its presence in the Admiralty Islands is due to human introduction several thousand years ago, but not before 13,000 B.P.[1] However, unlike Phalangeridae species (cuscus), which have historically been widely introduced and distributed by humans, the Peramelidae (bandicoots) have generally not been spread as much via human introductions.[1]
It is hunted for human consumption in New Guinea.[2] The Common echymipera is a host of the Acanthocephalan intestinal parasite Australiformis semoni.[3]