Search

New World porcupines (Erethizontinae) originated in South America and dispersed into North America as part of the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) 3-4 million years ago. 1 Extant prehensile-tailed porcupines (Coendou) today live in tropical forests of Central and South America. 2,3 In contrast, North American porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) are thought to be ecologically adapted to higher-latitude temperate forests, with a larger body, shorter tail, and diet that includes bark. 4,5,6,7 Limited fossils 8,9,10,11,12,13 have hindered our understanding of the timing of this ecological differentiation relative to intercontinental dispersal during the GABI and expansion into temperate habitats. 14,15,16,17,18 Here, we describe functionally important features of the skeleton of the extinct Erethizon poyeri , the oldest nearly complete porcupine skeleton documented from North America, found in the early Pleistocene of Florida. It differs from extant E. dorsatum in having a long, prehensile tail, grasping foot, and lacking dental specializations for bark gnawing, similar to tropical Coendou. Results from phylogenetic analysis suggest that the more arboreal characteristics found in E. poyeri are ancestral for erethizontines. Only after it expanded into temperate, Nearctic habitats did Erethizon acquire the characteristic features that it is known for today. When combined with molecular estimates of divergence times, results suggest that Erethizon was ecologically similar to a larger species of Coendou when it crossed the Isthmus of Panama by the early Pleistocene. It is likely that the range of this more tropically adapted form was limited to a continuous forested biome that extended from South America through the Gulf Coast. • The oldest fossil skeleton of Erethizon resolves eco-evolutionary origin conflict • It preserves functional traits more similar to its tropical relatives • It is more closely related to temperate species despite ecological differences • The ecology of this species implies the existence of forested dispersal corridors Vitek et al. show that the oldest fossil skeleton of a North American porcupine functioned like its distant tropical relatives. Porcupines evolved a temperate-adapted ecology only after arrival to temperate North America. Significant forested corridors must have existed during the Great American Biotic Interchange, permitting dispersal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chewing louse genus Eutrichophilus Mjöberg has 19 species only associated with porcupines (Rodentia: Erethizontidae). Of these species, E. cercolabes , E. cordiceps , E. emersoni , E. minor , E. moojeni, and E. paraguayensis have been recorded in Brazil. In the present study, we report E. cordiceps for the first time in the São Paulo State (Bauru Municipality) and for the second time in the Santa Catarina State (Lages Municipality), providing scanning electron images and light microscopy for the eggs, as well as the first molecular data (18S rRNA) for the genus. Additionally, Bartonella sp. was detected for the first time in this chewing lice species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]