Silvacola

Silvacola; Temporal range: Ypresian; ~50 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	A depiction of a silvacola (below).
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Eulipotyphla
Family:	Erinaceidae
Genus:	Silvacola; Eberle, Rybczynski & Greenwood 2014
Species
	S. acares;

Silvacola is an extinct genus of hedgehog of the family Erinaceidae, which lived in North America during the Early Eocene, about 50 million years ago. It was just 5 to 6 centimetres (2.0 to 2.4 in) long, roughly the length of an adult thumb. It is the smallest hedgehog ever found and comparable in size to some of today's shrews.[1]

The teeth of the tiny hedgehog suggest it was an omnivore that probably ate insects and plants it found on the forest floor.

The fossil was discovered in the Driftwood Creek Beds near Smithers, British Columbia, about 670 kilometers north of Vancouver. It was once the site of an ancient lake, and it is a popular place to find fossils of early Eocene flora and fauna.[2]

References

Eberle; Rybczynski; Greenwood (2014). "Early Eocene mammals from the Driftwood Creek beds, Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park, northern British Columbia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 34 (4): 739–746. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.838175.
"Ancient hedgehog once inhabited British Columbia". EurekAlert!. 2014-07-08. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 2014-10-07.

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[Eberle2014-1] Eberle; Rybczynski; Greenwood (2014). "Early Eocene mammals from the Driftwood Creek beds, Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park, northern British Columbia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 34 (4): 739–746. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.838175.

[eurekalert2014-2] "Ancient hedgehog once inhabited British Columbia". EurekAlert!. 2014-07-08. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 2014-10-07.