Potamochoerus

Potamochoerus is a genus in the pig family (Suidae). The two species are restricted to sub-Saharan Africa, although the bushpig, possibly due to introduction by humans, also occurs in Madagascar and nearby islands. Early in the 20th century, there were considered to be as many as five different species within the genus. These were gradually consolidated, until, in the 1970s, it was generally agreed that all were representatives of just a single species. The bushpig was again recognised as a separate species from about 1993.

Potamochoerus

en:User:Cburnett · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
SuinaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Suidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Suidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 7.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 10 of 65 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 14 of 65 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 25 of 65 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 16 of 65 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.1–7.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.7–7.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.3–6.9 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.3–4.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.9–4.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.4–4.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.0–3.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.6–3.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 24 occurrences7.246 Mya11.7 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

65 occurrences of Potamochoerus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

65 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

12 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.78°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 3.70°N, 36.34°EKoobi Fora — 4.09°N, 36.31°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 10.05°S, 33.96°EVogel River Series — 3.24°S, 35.18°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°ENachukui — 3.90°N, 35.71°ENachukui — 4.53°N, 35.75°ETatrot — 30.73°N, 76.78°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°ENyakabingo — 1.00°N, 30.50°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EGuadix — 37.42°N, 3.17°W

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The named rock units Potamochoerus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 44 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Potamochoerus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Potamochoerus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

851 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 62 sites for Potamochoerus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

40 references

Each of the 65 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 28 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Potamochoerus

Credit
en:User:Cburnett
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Potamochoerus choeropotamus · UMZC:Vertebrates:H.12894

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSuinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1854