Hystrix primigenia

Hystrix primigenia is an extinct species of Old World porcupine that lived during the Late Miocene and Pliocene. Fossils of this species were recovered mainly from southern Europe, from Spain to Turkey and North Africa as well. The earliest fossils were found in Greece and the Balkan peninsula.^[2]

Hystrix primigenia Temporal range: Late Miocene - Late Pliocene
Fossil feet of Hystrix primigenia at the Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy, Paris.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Hystricidae
Genus:	Hystrix
Species:	†H. primigenia
Binomial name
†Hystrix primigenia (Wagner, 1848)[1]
Synonyms
Lamprodon primigenius

Hystrix primigenia was much larger than living porcupines, perhaps as much as twice the size of the largest living species. It probably descended from a smaller, more primitive species known as Hystrix suevica.^[3] Hystrix primigenia seems to have been adapted to warm dry climate, and inhabited areas rich in forests and open woodland environments.^[2]