| Catagonus metropolitanus Temporal range: Pleistocene | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Tayassuidae |
| Genus: | Catagonus |
| Species: | †C. metropolitanus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Catagonus metropolitanus Ameghino, 1904 | |
Catagonus metropolitanus is an extinct species of peccary known from the Pleistocene of Argentina.
Taxonomy
Catagonus metropolitanus is notable as the type species of a genus that contains a living species; the Chacoan peccary. The living Chacoan peccary was first described in 1930 from subfossil remains, and was only found alive by scientists in 1972, making it an example of a Lazarus taxon.
A 2017 study on the phylogenetic systematics of Tayassuidae species suggests that Catagonus should only contain C. metropolitanus. The extinct narrow-headed peccary (C. stenocephalus) should be moved to Brasiliochoerus, while the Chacoan peccary, C. bonaerensis and C. carlesi should be placed in Parachoerus. If this is accepted, then Catagonus would become an extinct genus once more.
References
- "Catagonus metropolitanus". Fossilworks.
- Ameghino, F. (1904). "Nuevas especies de mamíferos Cretáceos y Terciarios de la República Argentina" [New species of Cretaceous and Tertiary mammals from the Argentine Republic]. Anales de la Sociedad Científica Argentina (in Spanish). 56 (5): 193–208 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- Wetzel, Ralph M. (1975). "Catagonus, an "Extinct" Peccary, Alive in Paraguay". Science. 189 (4200): 379–381. Bibcode:1975Sci...189..379W. doi:10.1126/science.189.4200.379. PMID 17840828.
- Parisi-Dutra, R. (2017). "Phylogenetic Systematics of Peccaries (Tayassuidae: Artiodactyla) and a Classification of South American Tayassuids". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 24 (3): 345–358. doi:10.1007/s10914-016-9347-8. hdl:11336/54840. S2CID 27963274.
| Taxon identifiers | |
|---|---|
| Catagonus metropolitanus | |