''Catagonus metropolitanus'' is an extinct species of
peccary
A peccary (also javelina or skunk pig) is a medium-sized, pig-like hoofed mammal 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 No ...
known from the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...
of
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...
.
Taxonomy
''Catagonus metropolitanus'' is notable in that it is the type species of a genus that contains a living species; the
Chacoan peccary.The living Chacoan peccary was first described in 1930 from subfossil remains, and only found alive by scientists in 1972 (an example of a Lazarus taxon).
A 2017 study on the phylogenetic systematics of
Tayassuidae species suggests that ''Catagonus'' should only contain ''C. metropolitanus''. The extinct
narrow-headed peccary
''Catagonus stenocephalus'' (or ''Brasiliochoerus stenocephalus'') is an extinct species of peccary that lived in South America during the Late Pleistocene. Fossils have been found in Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia. It is commonly known as the narr ...
''(C. stenocephalus)'' should be moved into ''Brasiliochoerus'', while the Chacoan peccary, ''C. bonaerensis'' and ''
C. carlesi'' should be placed in ''Parachoerus''.
If this is accepted, then ''Catagonus'' becomes an extinct genus once more.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q20717394
Peccaries
Prehistoric even-toed ungulates
Pleistocene even-toed ungulates
Prehistoric mammals of South America
Pleistocene mammals of South America