Erethizon

Erethizon is a genus of New World porcupine and the only one of its family to be found north of southern Mexico. The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is the only extant species, but at least four extinct relatives are known, the oldest dating to the Late Pliocene. Porcupines entered North America during the Great American Interchange after the Isthmus of Panama rose 3 million years ago. Early species of the genus retained an elongate tail, unlike E. dorsatum.

Erethizon

J. Glover · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
North American porcupinePBDB
Sits inside
ErethizontidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Erethizontidae
Life habit
arborealPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 1.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 6 of 76 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 62 of 76 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 7 of 76 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–2.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.7–1.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.6–1.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.2–1.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.0–867 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences173 ka–0 Mya — about 33 occurrences1.8 Mya11.7 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

76 occurrences of Erethizon on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

76 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Palm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WTacubaya — 21.80°N, 102.30°WAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WWaccamaw — 33.00°N, 80.18°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Erethizon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 63 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Erethizon and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Erethizon and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

991 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 75 sites for Erethizon, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

56 references

Each of the 76 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 44 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Erethizon

Credit
J. Glover
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itErethizontidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cuvier 1822