Platygonus

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Platygonus
Temporal range: Late Miocene-Late Pleistocene
~10.3–0.011 Ma
Platygonus compressus Harvard.jpg
Platygonus compressus skeleton at Harvard University
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Tayassuidae
Genus: †Platygonus
LeConte 1848
Type species
Platygonus compressus
LeConte 1848
Species

See text

Synonyms
  • Euchoerus Leidy 1853
  • Hyops LeConte 1848
  • Protochoerus LeConte 1848
  • Selenogonus Stirton 1947

Platygonus ("flat head" in reference to the straight shape of the forehead)[1] is an extinct genus of herbivorous peccaries of the family Tayassuidae, endemic to North and South America from the Miocene through Pleistocene epochs (10.3 million to 11,000 years ago), existing for about 10.289 million years.[2] P. compressus stood 2.5 feet (0.75 meters) tall.[3][4]

Description[edit]

Restoration

Platygonus were gregarious[citation needed] animals and, like modern peccaries, possibly traveled in herds. At least nine known species of Platygonus are known and ranged from southern Canada to Mexico and from California to Pennsylvania. Stratigraphically, they occur throughout the Pleistocene (Calabrian), and as early as the Blancan in the Gelasian of the Pliocene. The most recent credible date obtained for some species remains is about 11,000 BC.[5]

Genetics[edit]

While long thought to be the sister-lineage to the Chacoan peccary based on morphological similarities, a 2017 ancient DNA study which recovered mitochondrial DNA from Platygonus found that all living peccaries are more closely related to each other than they are to Platygonus. The estimated divergence between Platygonus and all living peccaries was placed in the Miocene, around 10 million years ago.[6]

Distribution[edit]

During the Late Pleistocene, Platygonus was most common in Eastern North America, with records in the Great Plains and western North America being more sparse.[7]

Taxonomy[edit]

Platygonus compressus skull in The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

Platygonus was named by John Lawrence LeConte in 1848 for fossils found in Pleistocene karst deposits in Illinois, which are now preserved in the Academy of National Sciences in Philadelphia.

The following species of Platygonus have been described:[2]

  • P. bicalcaratus (nomen dubium)
  • P. brachirostris
  • P. chapadmalensis
  • P. cinctus
  • P. compressus (type)
  • P. kraglievichi
  • P. marplatensis
  • P. narinoensis
  • P. oregonensis
  • P. pearcei
  • P. pollenae
  • P. scagliae
  • P. setiger
  • P. striatus
  • P. texanus
  • P. vetus

Morphology[edit]

Most Platygonus species were similar in size to modern peccaries especially giant peccary, at around 1 m (3.3 ft) in body length, and had long legs, allowing them to run well. They also had a pig-like snout and long tusks which were probably used to fend off predators.[8] They had a complex digestive system, similar to that of a modern ruminant.

Distribution[edit]

Fossils of Platygonus have been found in:[2]

Miocene
Chapadmalalan
Hemphillian
Blancan
Plio-Pleistocene
Pleistocene

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Peccary". Idaho Museum of Natural History. November 2002. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Platygonus in the Paleobiology Database
  3. ^ Perry, Tahlia; van Loenen, Ayla L.; Heiniger, Holly; Lee, Carol; Gongora, Jaime; Cooper, Alan; Mitchell, Kieren J. (July 2017). "Ancient DNA analysis of the extinct North American flat-headed peccary (Platygonus compressus)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 112: 258–267. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.03.024. ISSN 1095-9513. PMID 28363818.
  4. ^ "Flat-headed Peccary | Explore the Ice Age Midwest". iceage.museum.state.il.us. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  5. ^ Fiedal 2009, p. 21
  6. ^ Perry, Tahlia; van Loenen, Ayla L.; Heiniger, Holly; Lee, Carol; Gongora, Jaime; Cooper, Alan; Mitchell, Kieren J. (2017-07). "Ancient DNA analysis of the extinct North American flat-headed peccary (Platygonus compressus)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 112: 258–267. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.03.024. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Wilson, Kurt M.; Hill, Matthew G. (2020-11). "Synthesis and assessment of the flat-headed peccary record in North America". Quaternary Science Reviews. 248: 106601. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106601. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Palmer 1999, p. 269
  9. ^ Cocha Verde at Fossilworks.org
  10. ^ Galena at Fossilworks.org
  11. ^ [1] at ResearchGate.org

Bibliography[edit]

  • Fiedal, Stuart (2009). "Sudden Deaths: The Chronology of Terminal Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction". In Haynes, Gary (ed.). American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer. pp. 21–37. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_2. ISBN 978-1-4020-8792-9.
  • Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. ISBN 978-1-84028-152-1.

Further reading[edit]

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