Erethizontidae

The New World porcupines, family Erethizontidae, are large, arboreal rodents, distinguished by their spiny coverings from which they take their name. They inhabit forests and wooded regions across North America and into northern South America. Although both the New World and Old World porcupine families belong to the Hystricognathi branch of the vast order Rodentia, they are quite different and are not particularly closely related.

Erethizontidae

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
porcupinePBDB
Sits inside
ErethizontoideaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
arborealPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 136 occurrencesOligocene — about 8 of 136 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 33 of 136 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 136 occurrencesPleistocene — about 74 of 136 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–25 Mya — about 1 occurrence25–24 Mya — about 1 occurrence24–23 Mya — about 1 occurrence23–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 4 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 5 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 1 occurrence14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.2–8.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.1–6.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.6–3.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 16 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 67 occurrences27.3 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

136 occurrences of Erethizontidae 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

136 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

25 formations

Sarmiento — 45.23°S, 67.49°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.71°WSarmiento — 43.30°S, 65.42°WPinturas — 46.99°S, 70.59°WPinturas — 47.17°S, 70.21°WPinturas — 47.03°S, 70.67°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSolimoes — 10.93°S, 69.92°WSolimoes — 7.66°S, 72.54°WSolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WSolimoes — 10.94°S, 69.34°WVillavieja — 3.32°N, 75.13°WDeseado — 47.90°S, 66.25°WSan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WCollón Cura — 40.39°S, 70.21°WTarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WItuzaingo — 31.48°S, 60.23°WSopas — 30.43°S, 56.45°WSopas — 32.05°S, 56.12°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°WMuyu Huasi — 19.04°S, 65.26°WUquía — 23.33°S, 65.33°WYahuarango — 9.49°S, 72.76°WWare — 11.85°N, 71.32°WChambira — 7.32°S, 74.93°WSalla Beds — 17.00°S, 67.00°WMesa — 9.85°N, 63.33°WWaccamaw — 33.00°N, 80.18°WSolimões — 8.78°S, 68.90°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Erethizontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 75 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Erethizontidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Erethizontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,735 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 108 sites for Erethizontidae, 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

92 references

Each of the 136 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. 80 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 content1

Picture of Erethizontidae

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

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itErethizontoidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte 1845