English

A New World porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum

Noun

New World porcupine ‎(plural New World porcupines)

1. Any of the large, arboreal, spiny-furred rodents of the family Erethizontidae, native to forests and wooded regions of North America and northern South America.
   • 2004, Fred Cooke (editor), The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide, page 232,

     New World porcupines, found in both North and South America, are arboreal and climb trees with agility, aided in some species by a prehensile tail.

   • 2009, Uldis Roze, The North American Porcupine, page 206,

     The bizarre structure, shared with the New World porcupines, so impressed Stuart Landry that he argued for a common origin for the New World and Old World hystricomorphs long before the mainstream of biologists felt ready to do so (Pocock 1922; Dathe 1937; Landry 1957

   • 2011, Terry A. Vaughan, James M. Ryan, Mammalogy, page 227,

     New World porcupines have some arboreal adaptations that are lacking in their more terrestrial Old World counterparts.

Synonyms

• (any species of family Erethizontidae): erethizontid

Coordinate terms

• Old World porcupine