Catagonus is a genus of peccaries that contains the living Chacoan peccary, C. wagneri, and several extinct species. The genus has always been restricted to South America.
| Catagonus | |
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| Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Tayassuidae |
| Genus: | Catagonus Ameghino, 1904[1] |
| Species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Taxonomy edit
Catagonus is notable in that the type species, C. metropolitanus, is extinct; the living Chacoan peccary was first described in 1930 from subfossil remains, and only found alive by scientists in 1972 (an example of a Lazarus taxon).[2]
A 2017 study on the phylogenetic systematics of Tayassuidae species suggests that Catagonus should only contain C. metropolitanus. The extinct narrow-headed peccary (C. stenocephalus) should be moved into Brasiliochoerus, while the Chacoan peccary, C. bonaerensis and C. carlesi should be placed in Parachoerus.[3] If this is accepted, then Catagonus becomes an extinct genus once more.
References edit
- ^ "Catagonus". Fossilworks.
- ^ Wetzel, Ralph M. (1975). "Catagonus, an "Extinct" Peccary, Alive in Paraguay". Science. 189 (4200): 379–381. doi:10.1126/science.189.4200.379. PMID 17840828.
- ^ Parisi-Dutra, R. (2017). "Phylogenetic Systematics of Peccaries (Tayassuidae: Artiodactyla) and a Classification of South American Tayassuids". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 24 (3): 345–358. doi:10.1007/s10914-016-9347-8.