North American porcupine

North American porcupine
Temporal range:
Middle Pleistocene – present (~130,000–0 YBP)[1]

Secure  (NatureServe)[3]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Erethizontidae
Subfamily: Erethizontinae
Genus: Erethizon
Species:
E. dorsatum
Binomial name
Erethizon dorsatum
Subspecies
  • E. d. dorsatum
  • E. d. bruneri
  • E. d. couesi
  • E. d. epixanthum
  • E. d. myops
  • E. d. nigrescens
  • E. d. picinum
Synonyms

Erethizon dorsatus[4][nb 1]
Hystrix dorsata Linnaeus, 1758

The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum), also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family. It is the second largest rodent in North America after the North American beaver (Castor canadensis). The porcupine is a caviomorph rodent whose ancestors crossed the Atlantic from Africa to Brazil 30 million years ago,[5][6] and then migrated to North America during the Great American Interchange after the Isthmus of Panama rose 3 million years ago.[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference woods1973 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Emmons, L. (2016). "Erethizon dorsatum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T8004A22213161. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T8004A22213161.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Erethizon dorsatum". NatureServe Explorer. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Erethizon dorsatus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. See also "Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  5. ^ Patterson, Bruce D.; Upham, Nathan S. (2014-12-01). "A newly recognized family from the Horn of Africa, the Heterocephalidae (Rodentia: Ctenohystrica)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 172 (4): 942–963. doi:10.1111/zoj.12201. ISSN 0024-4082 – via Oxford University Press.
  6. ^ Martin, Thomas (1994). "African origin of caviomorph rodents is indicated by incisor enamel microstructure". Paleobiology. 20 (1): 5–13. Bibcode:1994Pbio...20....5M. doi:10.1017/S009483730001109X. ISSN 0094-8373. S2CID 89551027.
  7. ^ Bromley, D.; Osborne, T. (1994). "Porcupine: Alaska Wildlife Notebook Series". Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game. Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-10.


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