Small suoids from the Miocene of Europe and Asia

Abstract

The history of study of small suoids from the Miocene of Eurasia is complex for several reasons: scarcity of fossil material, a high degree of dental convergence and parallelism between closely and distantly related lineages, and frequent misattribution of fossils, resulting in the gradual development of a confusing taxonomy. Changes in taxonomy above the genus level, have added to the complexity; European lineages classified in Suidae in 1924 are now arranged into three separate families; Suidae, Palaeochoeridae and Sanitheriidae. Recent studies have considerably clarified the situation, but there remain several problematic issues to resolve, especially among the Palaeochoeridae. The fossil register of some taxa is limited, so it is necessary to put on record newly recognised specimens in order to fill out our knowledge concerning them. This paper includes previously undescribed material of Palaeochoeridae and small Suidae, as well as reinterpretation of some fossils published in “obscure” scientific journals. The latter include some taxa that have priority over more recently proposed names. A systematic revision of these forms is carried out, and the paper ends with a proposal for a revised taxonomy of the Palaeochoeridae, a family that has recently taken on importance in the debate about the origins of Hippopotamidae.