Species

Species

Of the three genera, Hystrix is characterized by an inflated skull, in which the nasal cavity is often considerably larger than the brain-case, and a short tail, tipped with numerous slender-stalked open quills, which make a loud rattling noise whenever the animal moves.

The Crested Porcupine (Hystrix cristata) is a typical representative of the Old World porcupines, and occurs throughout the south of Europe and North and West Africa. It is replaced in South Africa by the Cape Porcupine, H. africaeaustralis, and in India by the Malayan Porcupine (H.brachyura).

Besides these large crested species, there are several smaller species without crests in north-east India, and the Malay region from Nepal to Borneo.

African brush-tailed porcupine (Atherurus africanus) sold for meat in Cameroon

The genus Atherurus includes the brush-tailed porcupines which are much smaller animals, with long tails tipped with bundles of flattened spines. One species is found in the Malay region and one in Central and West Africa. The latter species, the African Brush-tailed Porcupine (Atherurus africanus), is often hunted for its meat.

Trichys, the last genus, contains one species, the Long-tailed Porcupine (Trichys fasciculata) of Borneo. This species is externally very similar to Atherurus, but differing from the members of that genus in many cranial characteristics.

Fossil species are also known from Africa and Eurasia, with one of the oldest being Sivacanthion from the Miocene of Pakistan. However, it was probably not a direct ancestor of modern porcupines.^[3]

They include four genera, of which the first is represented by the North American Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum), a stout, heavily built animal, with long hairs almost or quite hiding its spines, four front and five hind-toes, and a short, stumpy tail. It is a native of the greater part of Canada and theUnited States, wherever there is any remnant of the original forest left.

The tree porcupines (Coendou, Sphiggurus, and Echinoprocta) contain 16 species. They are found throughout tropical South America, with two extending into Mexico. They are of a lighter build than the ground porcupines, with short, close, many-coloured spines, often mixed with hairs, and prehensile tails. The hind-feet have only four toes, owing to the suppression of the first, in place of which they have a fleshy pad on the inner side of the foot; between this pad and the toes, branches and other objects can be firmly grasped as with a hand. These three genera are often united into a single genus Coendou.

Genus Chaetomys, distinguished by the shape of its skull and the greater complexity of its teeth, contains C. subspinosus, a native of the hottest parts of Brazil. This animal is often considered a member of the Echimyidae on the basis of its premolar. However, a molecular phylogeny based on themitochondrial gene coding for cytochrome b combined to karyological evidence actually suggests that the bristle-spined rat is more closely related to the Erethizontidae than to the Echimyidae, and that it is the sister group of all other Erethizontidae^[3].

source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_porcupine