''Catagonus carlesi'', or ''Parachoerus carlesi'', is an extinct species of

peccary Peccaries (also javelinas or skunk pigs) are pig-like ungulates of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. Peccari ...

that lived in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

during the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...

Description

Fossils of ''Catagonus carlesi'' have been dated to 26,630 ± 370 years BP. It was adapted to open or semi-open and arid or semi-arid environments with scarce or absent vegetation cover. These environmental conditions favored the settlement of mammals adapted to open environments.

Taxonomy

A 2017 study on the phylogenetic systematics of

Tayassuidae Peccaries (also javelinas or skunk pigs) are pig-like ungulates of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. Peccari ...

species suggests that ''Catagonus carlesi'' should be moved to the genus ''Parachoerus'' along with the living

Chacoan peccary The Chacoan peccary or ''tagua'' (''Catagonus wagneri'' or ''Parachoerus wagneri'') is the last extant species of the genus ''Catagonus''; it is a peccary found in the Gran Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina. Approximately 3,000 remain i ...

and ''C. bonaerensis'', with ''Catagonus'' restricted to the extinct '' C. metropolitanus''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q108101435 Peccaries Pleistocene Artiodactyla Pleistocene extinctions Pleistocene mammals of South America Pleistocene Argentina