Cape warthog

Cape warthog

Extinct  (1871)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Artiodactyla
Family:Suidae
Genus:Phacochoerus
Species: P. aethiopicus
Subspecies: †P. a. aethiopicus
Trinomial name
Phacochoerus aethiopicus aethiopicus
(Pallas, 1766)

The Cape warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus aethiopicus) is an extinct subspecies of the living desert warthog. It was originally native to South Africa and became extinct around 1871.[1]

The Cape warthog closely resembled the surviving subspecies of desert warthog. Some common differences between the desert warthog and the common warthog (P. africanus) include:

  • The skull is smaller, but broader
  • The frontal area of the zygomatic arch is thickened by internal sinuses and is swollen into a round hollow knob in front of the jugal-squamosal suture (in P. africanus, the zygomatic arch may be robust, but it is not thickened, and there is no knob).
  • There are never incisors in P. aethiopicus, yet a regular warthog has two incisors in the upper jaw and six in the lower.
  • In the desert warthog, the large third molars are different to those of P. africanus because no roots are formed before the enamel columns wear down.
  • Both species of warthog have two spherical pits in the back of the skull, but they are many times larger in the desert warthog.

References

  1. 1 2 de Jong, Y.A.; Butynski, T.M. & d'Huart, J.-P. (2011). "Phacochoerus aethiopicus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
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