Catagonus

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Catagonus
Temporal range: PlioceneRecent
File:Catagonus wagneri closeup.jpg
Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Tayassuidae
Genus: Catagonus
Ameghino, 1904[1]
Species
Synonyms
  • Brasiliochoerus
  • Parachoerus

Catagonus is a genus of peccaries that contains the living Chacoan peccary, C. wagneri, and several extinct species. The genus has always been restricted to South America.

Taxonomy

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Catagonus is notable in that the type species, C. metropolitanus, is extinct; the living Chacoan peccary was first described in 1930 from subfossil remains, and only found alive by scientists in 1972 (an example of a Lazarus taxon).[2]

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 into Brasiliochoerus, while the Chacoan peccary, C. bonaerensis and C. carlesi should be placed in Parachoerus.[3] If this is accepted, then Catagonus becomes an extinct genus once more.

References

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