Revision of “peccary-like” Suoidea (Artiodactyla: Mammalia) from the Neogene of the Old World

Introduction
Institutional Abbreviations
Dental nomenclature
Taxonomy and Systematics   0
Historical review   2
Phase 1: 800 1874   3
Phase 2: 874 1996   6
Phase 3: 996 2016   1
Phase 4: tarted in 1984, but matured in 2017   3
Systematic Palaeontology   4
Superfamily Suoidea   4
Family Doliochoeridae   4
Genus Bransatochoerus   5
Species Bransatochoerus elaverensis   5
Genus Doliochoerus   6
Species Doliochoerus quercyi   6
Species Doliochoerus pusillus   6
Genus Lorancahyus   7
Species Lorancahyus daamsi   7
Species Lorancahyus hypsorhizus   7
Family Sanitheriidae   8
Genus Diamantohyus   9
Species Diamantohyus africanus   9
Genus Sanitherium   1
Species Sanitherium schlagintweiti   31
Species Sanitherium leobense   33
Family Schizoporcidae   4
Genus Schizoporcus   4
Species Schizoporcus anatoliensis   35
Species Schizoporcus arambourgi   35
Species Schizoporcus vallesensis   37
Family Siderochoeridae nov.   3
Subfamily Siderochoerinae nov.   3
Genus Siderochoerus nov.   3
Subfamily Choeromorinae nov.   5
Genus Choeromorus   5
Species Choeromorus lemuroides   57
Species Choeromorus grandaevus   75
Choeromorus ibericus nov. sp.   81
Choeromorus petersbuchensis nov. sp.   85
Genus Pecarichoerus   16
Species Pecarichoerus orientalis   117
Species Pecarichoerus inonuensis   118
Siderochoeridae subfamily indet.   132
Genus indet.   32
Genus indet. primus   32
Genus indet. sminthos   33
Genus Yunnanochoerus   33
Species Yunnanochoerus dangari   133
Species Yunnanochoerus gandakasensis   134
Species Yunnanochoerus lufengensis   134
General Discussion   35
Phylogeny   36
Conclusions   39
Acknowledgements   40
References   41

For over two centuries, the Bohnerz deposits of Southwestern Germany have yielded Palaeogene and Neogene mammalian fossils, and as quarrying for blocks of limestone continues, new palaeontological discoveries are constantly being made, often comprising better preserved material of known taxa, but occasionally including hitherto unknown taxa. This paper describes “peccarylike” suoids from Bohnerz deposits in the Franconian Alb spanning much of the basal and middle Miocene. Some of the fossils are remarkably complete and reveal that previous identifications and interpretations of these small suoids require reassessment as does the content of the superfamily as a whole. Fossils from other localities in Europe (Fig. 1) are compared with the new fossils. The stratigraphic coverage spans the Late Oligocene to the base of the Late Miocene (Fig. 2).
Bohnerz in the Swabian and Franconian Alb comprises sedimentary infillings of fissures eroded into Jurassic Limestone beds. The limestone is extracted in large blocks used in the building industry. Fissures are frequently encountered during the mining activities, and the fossiliferous bohnerz (‘bean ore’ in English) infilling them are eventually destroyed as the walls of the open cast mines advance over the outcrop. Fossils in the bohnerz would be lost due to the mining activities were it not for the constant surveys and sampling carried out by a few dedicated and interested individuals. Dr. Michael Rummel (Weißenburg, Augsburg) is one such person, who has spent several decades surveying the quarries and mines, and has amassed an important collection of vertebrate fossils ranging in age from Eocene to Late Miocene.

Among the collections made by Dr. Rummel and by Ulrich Schmid, there are interesting suoids (pig-like mammals) which comprise the focus of this paper. The fossils collected are among the most complete known for their respective species and warrant detailed examination and comparison. The suids in the collections, which have already been published, permitted an in-depth revision of the Neogene hyotheriine Suidae of Europe (Pickford, 2016).

This contribution focuses on the “Old World Peccaries” of the Bohnerz. It has been necessary to carry out a detailed revision of the Eurasian taxa previously attributed to Tayassuidae in order to determine the proper affinities of the various genera and species to each other. This is because some of the fossils from the Bohnerz represent a new genus and new species. Thus the paper starts by re-diagnosing the Neogene species of “Old World Peccaries” from Europe and Asia. There remain several problematic issues concerning poorly known taxa such as Genus indet. primus, and the familial affinities of the genus Schizoporcus, originally classified as a suid (Crusafont- Pairo & Lavocat, 1954) but then as an Old World Peccary (Pickford, 1978), and more recently reclassified as a suid by Orliac et al. (2010, 2015). What is clear is that the concept of a homogeneous or unified family of Old World Peccaries (under its various published guises – Old World Tayassuidae, Palaeochoeridae, Doliochoeridae) is no longer tenable, the various taxa previously classified in it showing too great a diversity of cranio-dental and skeletal morphologies to be encompassed by a single family. The outcome is that four families of “peccary-like” suoid families are recognised in Eurasia – Doliochoeridae (largely confined to the Oligocene and Early Miocene), Siderochoeridae (new family), Schizoporcidae and Sanitheridae, the last three families confined to the Miocene. This paper does not consider the Hippopotamidae and the Suidae which are the fifth and sixth families in the superfamily represented in the Old World, nor does it treat the New World Peccaries (Tayassuidae).