| Listriodon Temporal range: Miocene | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skull (IVPP V8285) of L. splendens, Paleozoological Museum of China | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| 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.
Listriodon species were generally small in size. In morphology, they show many similarities with peccaries rather than modern pigs. [1]
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. [2]
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 [3] 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. [4]
Prothero (2021) lists four valid species: [5]
Multiproxy isotopic analysis of the tooth enamel of L. splendens consisting of 87Sr/86Sr, δ18OCO3, and δ13C suggests that although it was primarily a browser, it consumed significant quantities of fruit and at times also fed on grass. [8] Analysis of L. cf. L. splendens and L. aff. L. latidens suggests that the former was a more specialised folivore than the latter. [9]
Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates, is an order of ungulates. The order includes about 17 living species divided into three families: Equidae, Rhinocerotidae (rhinoceroses), and Tapiridae (tapirs). They typically have reduced the weight-bearing toes to three or one of the five original toes, though tapirs retain four toes on their front feet. The nonweight-bearing toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or positioned posteriorly. By contrast, artiodactyls bear most of their weight equally on four or two of the five toes: their third and fourth toes. Another difference between the two is that perissodactyls digest plant cellulose in their intestines, rather than in one or more stomach chambers as artiodactyls, with the exception of Suina, do.
Ungulates are members of the diverse clade Euungulata, which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined to be a polyphyletic and thereby invalid clade based on molecular data. As a result, true ungulates had since been reclassified to the newer clade Euungulata in 2001 within the clade Laurasiatheria while Paenungulata has been reclassified to a distant clade Afrotheria. Living ungulates are divided into two orders: Perissodactyla including equines, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and Artiodactyla including cattle, antelope, pigs, giraffes, camels, sheep, deer, and hippopotamuses, among others. Cetaceans such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises are also classified as artiodactyls, although they do not have hooves. Most terrestrial ungulates use the hoofed tips of their toes to support their body weight while standing or moving. Two other orders of ungulates, Notoungulata and Litopterna, both native to South America, became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, around 12,000 years ago.
Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla. Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two of their five toes. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. By contrast, most perissodactyls bear weight on an odd number of the five toes. Another difference between the two orders is that many artiodactyls digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine. Molecular biology, along with new fossil discoveries, has found that cetaceans fall within this taxonomic branch, being most closely related to hippopotamuses. Some modern taxonomists thus apply the name Cetartiodactyla to this group, while others opt to include cetaceans within the existing name of Artiodactyla. Some researchers use "even-toed ungulates" to exclude cetaceans and only include terrestrial artiodactyls, making the term paraphyletic in nature.
Hippopotamidae is a family of stout, naked-skinned, and semiaquatic artiodactyl mammals, possessing three-chambered stomachs and walking on four toes on each foot. While they resemble pigs physiologically, their closest living relatives are the cetaceans. They are sometimes referred to as hippopotamids.
Notoungulata is an extinct order of ungulates that inhabited South America from the early Paleocene to the end of the Pleistocene, living from approximately 61 million to 11,000 years ago. Notoungulates were morphologically diverse, with forms resembling animals as disparate as rabbits and rhinoceroses. Notoungulata are the largest group of South American native ungulates, with over 150 genera in 14 families having been described, divided into two major subgroupings, Typotheria and Toxodontia. Notoungulates first diversified during the Eocene. Their diversity declined from the late Neogene onwards, with only the large toxodontids persisting until the end of the Pleistocene, perishing as part of the Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions along with most other large mammals across the Americas. Collagen sequence analysis suggests that notoungulates are closely related to litopterns, another group of South American ungulates, and their closest living relatives being perissodactyls, including rhinoceroses, tapirs and equines as part of the clade Panperissodactyla. However their relationships to other South American ungulates are uncertain. Several groups of notoungulates separately evolved ever-growing cheek teeth.
Chalicotherium is a genus of extinct odd-toed ungulates of the order Perissodactyla and family Chalicotheriidae. The genus is known from Europe and Asia, from the Middle Miocene to Late Miocene.
Sivatherium is an extinct genus of giraffid that ranged throughout Africa and Eurasia. The species Sivatherium giganteum is, by weight, one of the largest giraffids known, and also one of the largest ruminants of all time.
Candiacervus is an extinct genus of deer native to Pleistocene Crete. Due to a lack of other herbivores, the genus underwent an adaptive radiation, filling niches occupied by other taxa on the mainland. Due to the small size of Crete, some species underwent insular dwarfism, the smallest species, C. ropalophorus, stood about 40 centimetres (16 in) at the shoulders when fully grown, while other species were relatively large and comparable in size to mainland deer species. Some species are noted for their peculiar, elongate club-shaped antlers, though other species have more normal antlers.
Lutrogale was proposed as generic name by John Edward Gray in 1865 for otters with a convex forehead and nose, using the smooth-coated otter L. perspicillata as type species.
Archaeopotamus is an extinct genus of Hippopotamidae that lived between 7.5 and 2.58 million years ago in Africa and the Middle East. The genus was described in 2005 to encompass species of hippos that were previously grouped in Hexaprotodon.
Hoplitomeryx is a genus of extinct deer-like ruminants which lived on the former Gargano Island during the Miocene and the Early Pliocene, now a peninsula on the east coast of South Italy. Hoplitomeryx, also known as "prongdeer", had five horns and sabre-like upper canines similar to a modern musk deer.
The Orleanian age is a period of geologic time, within the Miocene and used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. It precedes the Astaracian age and follows the Agenian age.
Oriomeryx is an extinct genus of the family Moschidae, endemic to Europe from the early Miocene epoch, approximately 20 Ma. Fossils are known only from a single site in Zaragoza, Spain.
Adolph Cornelis 'Dolf' van Bruggen was a Dutch malacologist, entomologist, and botanist. His interest in the tropics and tropical Africa dominated his broad scientific interest for more than five decades. He was an expert especially in the land snail families Streptaxidae, Achatinidae and Maizaniidae. As of 2008, he had authored some 655 scientific publications.
Hemimachairodus is an extinct genus of machairodontine (sabre-toothed) cat with only one species, Hemimachairodus zwierzyckii, known from fossils from the Pleistocene of Java.
Giant asian pangolin, is an extinct species of pangolin that was native to Asia.
Sinohyus was a genus of ground dwelling omnivorous even toed ungulates that existed in Asia during the Pliocene.
Bunolistriodon is an extinct genus of pig-like animals from Eurasia and Africa during the Miocene.
Microbunodon was a genus of extinct artiodactyl mammals in the family Anthracotheriidae. It lived between the upper Eocene and the lower Pliocene. Its fossil remains have been found in Europe and Asia.
The Cretan otter(Lutrogale cretensis) is an extinct otter that was endemic to Crete during the Pleistocene.
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