Hystrix africaeaustralis

The Cape porcupine, Cape crested porcupine or South African porcupine, is a species of Old World porcupine native to central and southern Africa.

Hystrix africaeaustralis

Steven Lek · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
Cape porcupinePBDB
Sits inside
HystrixPBDB
Diet
herbivore, frugivorePBDB, for Hystricidae
Life habit
semifossorialPBDB, for Hystrix
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Mass
370 gWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 49 occurrencesPliocene — about 3 of 49 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 30 of 49 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 15 of 49 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 22 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

49 occurrences of Hystrix africaeaustralis 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

49 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

5 formations

Swartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°ENubia — 22.88°N, 30.64°ENubia — 22.50°N, 30.75°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Hystrix africaeaustralis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 36 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hystrix africaeaustralis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Hystrix africaeaustralis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

328 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 49 sites for Hystrix africaeaustralis, 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

34 references

Each of the 49 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. 22 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 Hystrix africaeaustralis

Credit
Steven Lek
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Hystrix africaeaustralis · FMNH:Mammals:60453

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itHystrix through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Peters 1852)