Island porcupines
| Island porcupines | ||||||||||||
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Bornean porcupine Hystrix crassispinis (from Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1876) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Thecurus | ||||||||||||
| Lyon , 1907 |
The island porcupines ( Hystrix subg. Thecurus ) are large rodents widespread in Southeast Asia .
features
Porcupines of the subgenus Thecurus , which is partially regarded as a separate genus , are common in Indonesia and the Philippines . They have dark brown fur in front, black in the back and numerous flat and flexible spines. The spines are white in front and behind, but black in the middle. The tail spines are also hollow and can be used to make a rattling sound.
species
There are three known types:
- the Borneo porcupine ( Hystrix crassispinis , synonym Thecurus crassispinis ) occurs in northern Borneo ,
- the Sumatran porcupine ( Hystrix sumatrae , synonym Thecurus sumatrae ) is common in Sumatra ,
- the Philippines porcupine ( Hystrix pumila , synonym Thecurus pumilis ) occurs on the Philippines islands of Palawan and Busuanga .
literature
- David Macdonald: The Great Encyclopedia of Mammals. Könemann in the Tandem-Verlags-GmbH, Königswinter 2004, ISBN 3-8331-1006-6 .
- Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World . 3. Edition. tape 2 . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 (English, Thecurus ).