An Eocene peccary from Thailand and the biogeographical origins of the artiodactyl family Tayassuidae

37 4 March 765 779

DUCROCQ, S. 1995. An Eocene peccary from Thailand and the biogeographical origins of the artiodactyl family Tayassuidae. Palaeontology37, 4, 765–779.

Stéphane Ducrocq Recent field work in the upper Eocene Krabi Basin (south Thailand) has yielded several dental and postcranial remains of a new genus and species, Egatochoerus jaegeri, of a tayassuid morphologically very close to the upper Eocene North American genus Perchoerus. According to the somewhat more primitive morphology of the Thai species, the family Tayassuidae seems to have originated in South East Asia, and then migrated into the New World as early as late Eocene. The familial status of the alleged tayassuid Odoichoerus uniconus from the lower Oligocene of China is also reconsidered, and this species should be referred to the Suidae on the basis of its dental and mandibular morphology. The Palaeontological Association (Free Access)