Megalochoerus
Temporal range: Miocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Suidae
Tribe: †Kubanochoerini
Genus: †Megalochoerus
Pickford, 1993
Type species
†Megalochoerus humungous
Pickford, 1993
Species
  • M. homungous
  • M. khinzikebirus Wilkinson, 1976
  • M. marymuunguae van der Made, 1996

Megalochoerus is an extinct genus of large and long-legged pig-like animals from the Miocene of Africa.[1][2]

Taxonomy

The species M. khinzikebirus and M. marymuunguae were once considered to belong to the related Kubanochoerus or Libycochoerus, but have since been reassigned to Megalochoerus.[3]

Megalochoerus marymuuguae was the smallest and earliest of the three species, while M. humungous was the latest occurring and largest.[4]

Description

Megalochoerus contained some of the largest suids ever known to exist. Weight estimates of M. khinzikebirus, intermediate in size between the other two species, have been as high as 1,104 kg (2,434 lb) based on dental morphology, easily larger than other giant fossil pigs such as Kubanochoerus and Notochoerus. Other calculations based on molar and humerus measurements have yielded lower estimates for M. khinzikebirus; 526 kg (1,160 lb) based on measurements of the lower molar (m/1), and 303 kg (668 lb) based on articulation of the distal humerus.[5] Regardless, even the smallest estimates would suggest that the larger M. homungous was the largest known suid, reaching the size of a gomphothere which would have measured more than 2 m (6.6 ft) tall and weighed 2.1 metric tons (2.3 short tons).[6][7]

References

  1. ^ Pickford, Martin. 1993. Old world suoid systematics, phylogeny, biogeography, and biostratigraphy. Paleontologia i Evolució. 26-27: 237-269.
  2. ^ M. Pickford. 2007. Suidae and hippopotamidae from the Middle Miocene of Kipsaraman, Kenya and other sites in East Africa. Palaeontological Research 11(1):85-105
  3. ^ Bishop LC (2010) Suoidea. In: Werdelin L, Sanders WJ, editors. Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 821–842.
  4. ^ Werdelin, Lars; Sanders, William Joseph (2010). Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press. p. 830. ISBN 9780520257214.
  5. ^ Pickford, M. (2006). "New suoid specimens from Gebel Zelten, Libya". Estudios Geológicos. 62 (1). doi:10.3989/egeol.0662147.
  6. ^ Pickford M. & Morales J. (2003). — New Listriodontinae (Mammalia, Suidae) from Europe and a review of listriodont evolution, biostratigraphy and biogeography. Geodiversitas. 25 (2) : 347-404.
  7. ^ Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014.


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