Hystrix primigenia

Hystrix primigenia is an extinct species of Old World porcupine that lived during the Late Miocene and Pliocene. Fossils of this species were recovered mainly from southern Europe, from Spain to Turkey and North Africa as well. The earliest fossils were found in Greece and the Balkan Peninsula.

Hystrix primigenia

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikidata/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
Sits inside
HystrixPBDB
Diet
herbivore, frugivorePBDB, for Hystricidae
Life habit
semifossorialPBDB, for Hystrix
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 4.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 129 ka.

Miocene — about 11 of 17 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 17 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 17 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 17 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.1–7.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.7–7.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.3–6.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.9–6.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.5–6.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.1–5.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.7–5.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.6–3.2 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.333 Mya774 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

17 occurrences of Hystrix primigenia on record. 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

17 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

3 formations

Pikermi — 38.00°N, 23.95°ETriglia — 40.03°N, 23.47°EDytiko — 40.84°N, 22.56°E

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The named rock units Hystrix primigenia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

274 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Hystrix primigenia, 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

17 references

Each of the 17 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. 5 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 Hystrix primigenia

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Hystrix primigenia was found in Sketchfab.

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 itHystrix through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Wagner 1848)