Choeropotamidae, also known as Haplobunodontidae, are a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

s, belonging to the

artiodactyls Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla ( , ). Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes (the third and fourth, often in the form of a hoof). The other thre ...

. They lived between the lower/middle

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

and lower

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

(about 48 - 30 million years ago) and their remains were found in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Description

Choeropotamidae had the classic archaic appearance of primitive artiodactyls, with an unspecialized body and relatively small size. However, since the middle Eocene, choeropotamids began to develop some characteristics that will be found, more accentuated, in the suiforms: bunodonti molars (low and wide crown) and short legs. Partially complete fossils with shapes such as '' Amphirhagatherium'' indicate that these animals still had a relatively elongated tail, slender legs shorter than those of other archaic artiodactyls, an elongated and flexible body, and a long snout. The length of these animals would not exceed 1 meter, and the weight was around 5 to 10 kilograms.

Classification

Choeropotamidae are mainly known in numerous European Eocene deposits, and only a few fossils of dubious identity have been found in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Choeropotamids are clearly derived from primitive forms of artiodactyls such as ''

Diacodexis ''Diacodexis'' is an extinct genus of small herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Diacodexeidae that lived in North America and Europe from 55.4 mya to 46.2 mya, existing for approximately . Description ''Diacodexis'' is the oldest know ...

'', and yet they already show some specializations that recall the suiforms, although they are not their direct ancestors. Among the various genera belonging to this family are '' Haplobunodon'', '' Masillabune'', '' Choeropotamus'', '' Tapirulus'', '' Amphirhagatherium'' and '' Rhagatherium''.

References

Ancodonta Prehistoric mammal families {{Paleo-eventoedungulate-stub