North American porcupine

North American porcupine; Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene – present (~130,000–0 YBP)
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
	; Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Erethizontidae
Subfamily:	Erethizontinae
Genus:	Erethizon
Species:	E. dorsatum
Binomial name
	Erethizon dorsatum; (Linnaeus, 1758)
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 ; 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 were believed to have 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]

^ Cite error: The named reference woods1973 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ 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.
^ "Erethizon dorsatum". NatureServe Explorer. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
^ "Erethizon dorsatus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. See also "Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ 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.

Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

[woods1973-1] Cite error: The named reference woods1973 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[iucn_status_13_November_2021-2] 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.

[NatureServe-3] "Erethizon dorsatum". NatureServe Explorer. Retrieved 17 April 2024.

[4] "Erethizon dorsatus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. See also "Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.

[6] 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.

[7] 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.

[ADF&G-8] 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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