''Metridiochoerus'' is an extinct genus of

swine Suina (also known as Suiformes) is a suborder of omnivorous, non-ruminant artiodactyl mammals that includes the domestic pig and peccaries. A member of this clade is known as a suine. Suina includes the family Suidae, termed suids, known in ...

known from the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

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 ...

. It is also known as the giant warthog.

Chronology

The oldest specimen dates to around 3.4 million years ago from the Usno Formation in Ethiopia. It probably evolved from a recent immigrant from Eurasia, which has been suggested to be the European ''"Postpotamochoerus" provincialis''.M. Pickford ‘Locomotion, diet, body weight, origin and geochronology of Metridiochoerus andrewsi from the Gondolin Karst Deposits, Hauteng, South Africa’ Ann. Ditsong Natl. Mus. Nat. Hist., 3 (1) (2013), pp. 33-47 The youngest remains of the genus date to the Late Pleistocene in southern Africa (Zimababwe, and possibly South Africa).

Description

''Metridiochoerus'' was a large animal, in length, resembling a giant

warthog ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly cons ...

. It had two pairs of large tusks which were pointed sideways and curved upwards. The teeth, especially the third molars, become increasingly high-crowned (

hypsodont Hypsodont is a pattern of dentition characterized by with high crowns, providing extra material for wear and tear. Some examples of animals with hypsodont dentition are cows and horses; all animals that feed on gritty, fibrous material. The oppos ...

) in later species.

Biology

The various species are usually thought to have been grazers, though this has been questioned for the earliest, low-crowned species.

References

*Barry Cox, Colin Harrison, R.J.G. Savage, and Brian Gardiner. (1999): The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures: A Visual Who's Who of Prehistoric Life.

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. *David Norman . (2001): The Big Book Of Dinosaurs. pg. 226, Walcome books. *''World Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures: The Ultimate Visual Reference To 1000 Dinosaurs And Prehistoric Creatures Of Land, Air And Sea ... And Cretaceous Eras (World Encyclopedia)'' by Dougal Dixon

External links

Prehistoric Suidae Pliocene Artiodactyla Pleistocene Artiodactyla Piacenzian first appearances Pleistocene genus extinctions Cenozoic mammals of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1926 Pleistocene mammals of Africa Prehistoric Artiodactyla genera Suinae {{paleo-eventoedungulate-stub