Long-nosed peccary

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Long-nosed peccary
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene
Mylohyus nasutus.jpg
Long-nosed peccary skeleton at the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin, Texas
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Tayassuidae
Genus: Mylohyus
Species:
M. nasutus
Binomial name
Mylohyus nasutus
Leidy, 1868

The long-nosed peccary (Mylohyus nasutus) is an extinct mammal species of the peccary family (Tayassuidae). It is one of two peccary-species that existed in the US-Midwest during the last ice age. [1]

Contents

Description

The long-nosed peccary was about 0,75 m (2,5 ft) in height and 67 kg (148 lb) in weight. [2] It had an elongated facial region and long slender legs. [3]

Habitat and distribution

During the last glacial, long-nosed peccaries were distributed throughout eastern North America with concentrations in Appalachia and Florida. Most fossil localities containing this species are found in the southern and south-eastern U.S., from west Texas to Florida, and north to Pennsylvania.

Ecology and behavior

Unlike the flat-headed peccary, the long-nosed peccary was probably a solitary animal and did not frequent caves. [4]

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References

  1. Lundelius, E. 1961. Mylohyus nasutus: Long-nosed Peccary of the Texas Pleistocene. Bulletin of the Texas Memorial Museum, vol. 1.
  2. Mendoza, M., Janis, C. M., Palmqvist, P. 2006. Estimating the body mass of extinct ungulates: a study on the use of multiple regression. Journal of Zoology 270(1):90-101
  3. Nye, April Season, "Pleistocene Peccaries from Guy Wilson Cave, Sullivan County, Tennessee." (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2115. http://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2115
  4. Tankersley, Kenneth B. 2011. Evaluating the Co-occurrence of Platygonus compressus and Mylohyus nasutus at Sheriden Cave, Wyandot County, Ohio. Current Research in the Pleistocene 28:173-175.