Metridiochoerus

Metridiochoerus is an extinct genus of swine known from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Africa. It is also known as the giant warthog.

Metridiochoerus

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
SuinaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Suidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Suidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 1.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 264 occurrencesPliocene — about 23 of 264 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 241 of 264 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 264 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 10 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 30 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 30 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 30 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 28 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 21 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 21 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 21 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 21 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 21 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.58 Mya774 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

264 occurrences of Metridiochoerus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

264 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

20 formations

Koobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°EKoobi Fora — 4.26°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 3.86°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.23°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 3.95°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.38°EKoobi Fora — 4.22°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.06°N, 36.33°EShungura — 5.14°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.15°N, 36.04°EShungura — 5.05°N, 36.01°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 4.19°N, 35.77°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.72°ENachukui — 3.93°N, 35.76°ENachukui — 4.53°N, 35.75°ENachukui — 4.11°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.15°N, 35.74°ENachukui — 4.67°N, 35.75°ENachukui — 4.00°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.10°N, 35.77°EOlduvai — 2.96°S, 35.29°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°EChemoigut — 0.65°N, 36.20°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 9.83°S, 34.83°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°EMatabaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EMatabaietu — 10.55°N, 40.58°EMatabaietu — 10.51°N, 40.58°EFejej — 5.00°N, 37.00°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°E2 — 11.06°N, 42.28°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°EUSNO — 5.35°N, 36.17°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°ERietputs — 28.53°S, 24.47°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°ELusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°E

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The named rock units Metridiochoerus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 24 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metridiochoerus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Metridiochoerus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

542 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 206 sites for Metridiochoerus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

59 references

Each of the 264 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 47 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Metridiochoerus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Metridiochoerus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSuinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hopwood 1926