The earliest Hystrix refossa: a new Early Villafranchian record from Milia (Grevena, Macedonia, Greece).

From the Early Villafranchian site of Milia (Grevena) in northern Greece a mandible fragment of a porcupine with part of the incisor has been recorded. Despite its fragmentary nature, morphologically the fossil has been referred unambiguously to the genus Hystrix; according to various size parameters it belongs to the species H. refossa. A compilation of all known porcupine fossils attributed to this species indicates that the find from Milia is the oldest record of H. refossa so far, the age of which is correlated with the early part of the informal Mammal Sub-Zone MN 16a. Age and location of the record suggest that--in parallel to the preceding species H. primigenia and H. depereti -- the porcupine species H. refossa spread from south-east Europe (Balkans) eventually over Europe. The Milia porcupine presumably inhabited vegetated river banks within a mosaic of open and forested terrain under warm and humid conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]