Articles related to the Old World porcupines (Hystricidae), large terrestrial rodents, distinguished by the spiny covering from which they take their name. They range over Southern Europe and the Levant, most of Africa, India, and Southeast Asia as far east as Flores. Although both the Old World and New World porcupine families belong to the infraorder Hystricognathi of the vast order Rodentia, they are quite different and are not particularly closely related.