Kubanochoerus

Kubanochoerus is an extinct genus of large, long-legged suid artiodactyl mammal from the Miocene of Eurasia and Africa.

Kubanochoerus
Temporal range: Miocene
~15.9–7.3 Ma
Mounted skeleton of Kubanochoerus at the Beijing Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Suidae
Tribe: †Kubanochoerini
Genus: †Kubanochoerus
Gabunia 1955
Species
  • K. gigas (Pearson, 1928)
  • K. lantianensis Qiu, Ye, & Huo 1988
  • K. mancharensis Van der Made 1996
  • K. minheensis (Qiu, Li, and Wang, 1981)
  • K. parvus Hou & Deng 2019[1]
  • K. robustus Gabunia 1955 (type)

Taxonomy
K. gigas skull

The genera Libycochoerus and Megalochoerus were once assigned to Kubanochoerus but are now considered distinct based on dental and minor cranial details.[2]

The putative paraceratheriid genus Caucasotherium, described from the Caucasus on the basis of a bone fragment with four incisors, is actually a synonym of the Middle Miocene Kubanochoerus gigas.[3]

Description
Restoration of K. gigas

The largest species, the aptly named K. gigas, grew to be up 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) at the shoulder, and probably weighed up to 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) in life. The heads of these pigs were unmistakable, with small eyebrow horns, and a large horn emanating from the forehead of the males. It is speculated that the males used their forehead horns for jousting with each other.

References
  1. Hou & Deng, 2019
  2. Bishop LC (2010) Suoidea. In: Werdelin L, Sanders WJ, editors. Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 821–842.
  3. PICKFORD, M., GABUNIA, L., MEIN, P., MORALES, J. & AZANZA, B. 2000. The Middle Miocene Mammalian site of Belometchetskaya, North Caucasus: an important biostratigraphic link between Europe and China. - Géobios 33 (2): 257-267, Lyon.

Bibliography
  • Hou, Su-Kuan, and Tao Deng. 2019. A new species of Kubanochoerus (Suidae, Artiodactyla) from the Linxia Basin, Gansu Province, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica in press. .


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