Xenohystrix

Name: Xenohystrix ‭(‬Foreign hystrix‭)‬.
Phonetic: Zee-noe-his-triks.
Named By: Greenwood‭ ‬-‭ ‬1955.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Rodnetia,‭ ‬Ctenohystrica,‭ ‬Hytricognathi.
Species: X.‭ ‬crassidens‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Omnivore‭?
Size: Uncertain due to lack of remains,‭ ‬but comparison to similar animals yields an estimate of‭ ‬60‭ ‬to‭ ‬90‭ ‬centimetres long.
Known locations: Africa.
Time period: Tortonian of the Miocene through to the Piacenzian of the Pliocene.
Fossil representation: Many specimens,‭ ‬mostly of the dentaries.

       Members of the genus Xenohystrix are prehistoric relatives of Hystrix cristata,‭ ‬also known as the crested porcupine which lives in Africa today.‭ ‬Like with their living relatives,‭ ‬Xenohystrix would be expected to have a covering of sharp quills to protect them from predators.‭ ‬Also like living porcupines,‭ ‬Xenohystrix may have eaten plants and occasionally invertebrates while also scavenging carrion from time to time.

Further reading
- Earliest evidence for Atherurus and Xenohystrix (hystricidae, rodentia) in Africa, from the late Miocene site of Lemudong’o, Kenya ‬-‭ ‬Leslea J.‭ ‬Hlusko‭ ‬-‭ ‬2007.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Random favourites