Origin of hedgehogs from primates via phylogenetic miniaturization
Where do hedgehogs come from?
According to taxonomists writing in Wikipedia, “Erinaceidae is a family in the order Eulipotyphla, consisting of the hedgehogs and moonrats.” Erinaceids are a group of placental mammals that have retained many of their ancestral traits, having changed little since their origin in the Eocene.”
No specific common ancestor of hedgehogs was presented there, just a joining with the moonrat clade, perhaps considered more primitive for lacking spines.
According to Wikipedia – hedgehog
“Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with shrews (family Soricidae), with gymnures [=moonrats] possibly being the intermediate link, and they have changed little over the last 15 million years. Like many of the first mammals, they have adapted to a nocturnal way of life. Their spiny protection resembles that of porcupines, which are rodents, and echidnas, a type of monotreme.”
By contrast
in the large reptile tree (LRT, 2336 taxa) hedgehogs like Erinaceus, Setifer and Echinops (Fig 1) arose from Hemiechinus and Anagale (Fig 1), and these from the tree shrews, Ptilocercus and Tupaia (Fig 1) within the clade Primates within the Placental1 clade.
Shrews and moonrats (which also reduce to lose the jugal = cheekbone) arose from Labidolemur among the Placental3 clade, which also gave rise to rodents, multitubercuates and ‘marsupial’ lions.
Figure 1. Primate taxa demonstrating a phylogenetic miniaturization from Notharctus to hedghogs.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/anagale-macroscelides.skull588-1.jpg?w=58″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/anagale-macroscelides.skull588-1.jpg?w=197″ class=”size-full wp-image-91672″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/anagale-macroscelides.skull588-1.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Primate taxa demonstrating a phylogenetic miniaturization from Notharctus to hedghogs.” width=”584″ height=”3037″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/anagale-macroscelides.skull588-1.jpg?w=584&h=3037 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/anagale-macroscelides.skull588-1.jpg?w=29&h=150 29w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/anagale-macroscelides.skull588-1.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. Primate taxa demonstrating a phylogenetic miniaturization from Notharctus to hedghogs like Hemiechinus, Setifer, Erinaceus and Echinops. Note the loss of canines (orange teeth) and their replacement with canine-like double-rooted premolars.
Hedgehogs have been a tricky clade to nest
in the LRT because they convergently share a long list of traits with the shrew – moonrat clade.
Note: tree shrews like Tupaia (Figs 1, 3) arose from larger adapids = lemur-like primates like Notharctus (Figs 1 3), and Nasua, the coatimundi (Fig 3), not the other way around.
Figure 2. Siamotherium is the exception to the phylogenetic miniaturization trend presented in figure 1.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/siamotherium-pondaungensis588.jpg?w=290″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/siamotherium-pondaungensis588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-91669″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/siamotherium-pondaungensis588.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Siamotherium is the exception to the phylogenetic miniaturization trend presented in figure 1.” width=”584″ height=”604″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/siamotherium-pondaungensis588.jpg?w=584&h=604 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/siamotherium-pondaungensis588.jpg?w=145&h=150 145w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/siamotherium-pondaungensis588.jpg?w=290&h=300 290w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/siamotherium-pondaungensis588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 2. Siamotherium is the exception to the phylogenetic miniaturization trend presented in figure 1.
Likewise,
Siamotherium (Fig 2) has been a tricky taxon to nest because of convergent traits with several mammal clades. It’s large size changes the direction of the phylogenetic miniaturization trend presented in figures 1 and 3. Originally Siamotherium was considered a small anthracothere close to Hippopotamus.
Constructing a cladogram itself is a tricky business of matching similar, but not identical taxa, while identifying convergence among 627 taxa AND dealing with some taxa that produce crests and fangs just by virtue of their gender.
Figure 1. A series of fossil and extant skulls illustrating the evolutionary transition from tiny Cretaceous or Jurassic opossum through primates leading to bats.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/origin-of-primates.skulls588.jpg?w=118″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/origin-of-primates.skulls588.jpg?w=402″ class=”size-full wp-image-89884″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/origin-of-primates.skulls588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. A series of fossil and extant skulls illustrating the evolutionary transition from tiny Cretaceous or Jurassic opossum through primates leading to bats.” width=”584″ height=”1489″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/origin-of-primates.skulls588.jpg?w=584&h=1489 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/origin-of-primates.skulls588.jpg?w=59&h=150 59w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/origin-of-primates.skulls588.jpg?w=118&h=300 118w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/origin-of-primates.skulls588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 3. Another series of fossil and extant skulls illustrating the evolutionary transition from a tiny Cretaceous or Jurassic opossum, Monodelphis, through primates leading to bats.
This appears to be a novel hypothesis of interrelationships.
If not, please provide a citation so I can promote it here.
References
Hutterer R 2005. Erinaceomorpha. In Wilson DE and Reeder DM (eds). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press: 212–217.
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2025/02/13/origin-of-hedgehogs-from-primates-via-phylogenetic-miniaturization/
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