Listriodon

Listriodon Temporal range: Miocene
Skull (IVPP V8285) of L. splendens, Paleozoological Museum of China
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Suidae
Subfamily:	†Listriodontinae
Tribe:	†Listriodontini
Genus:	†Listriodon von Meyer, 1846
Type species
†Listriodon splendens von Meyer, 1846
Species
See text

Listriodon is an extinct genus of pig-like animals that lived in Eurasia during the Miocene.

Description

Mandible of L. splendens

Listriodon species were generally small in size. In morphology, they show many similarities with peccaries rather than modern pigs.

The lophodont teeth of Listriodon indicate that it was mostly, if not strictly, herbivorous. Peculiarly, their teeth resemble those of perissodactyls such as horses more than they do that of ruminants. This was the case because unlike ruminants (and much like perissodactyls), pigs lack a complex four-chambered stomach and therefore had to rely on their teeth to break down grasses and herbs.

Species

Many species of Listriodon have been named over the years, to the point that the genus became a wastebasket taxon. Over the years, many species have been moved into new genera, such as Kubanochoerus, Bunolistriodon and Lopholistriodon. Some species were found to be synonymous with others, such as Listriodon theobaldi and Listriodon pentapotamiae representing different genders of a single species.

Prothero (2021) lists four valid species:

• Listriodon splendens
• Listriodon pentapotamiae
• Listriodon raetamanensis
• Listriodon bartuensis

Species now placed in Bunolistriodon

• Listriodon akatikubas
• Listriodon guptai
• Listriodon intermedius
• Listriodon latidens
• Listriodon lockharti
• Listriodon meidamon

Species now placed in Lopholistriodon

• Listriodon juba

Species now placed in Kubanochoerus

• Listriodon robustus

Species synonymous with L. splendens

• Listriodon aragoniensis
• Listriodon mongoliensis
• Listriodon lishanensis
• Listriodon xinanensis

Species synonymous with L. pentapotamiae

• Listriodon theobaldi

Palaeobiology

Palaeoecology

Multiproxy isotopic analysis of the tooth enamel of L. splendens consisting of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, δ¹⁸O_CO3, and δ¹³C suggests that although it was primarily a browser, it consumed significant quantities of fruit and at times also fed on grass. Analysis of dental morphology and microwear of L. cf. L. splendens and L. aff. L. latidens suggests that the former was a more specialised folivore than the latter.

Palaeopathology

At the Middle Miocene site of Chabbar Syedan in Pakistan, only two specimens of L. pentapotamiae showed signs of enamel hypoplasia out of twenty-four sampled suids, suggesting that this palaeoenvironment was stable and characterised by minimal environmental disruptions.

External links

• Listriodon at Fossilworks