Kubanochoerus

Kubanochoerus is an extinct genus of large, long-legged suid artiodactyl mammal from the Miocene of Eurasia and Africa.

Kubanochoerus Temporal range: Miocene ~15.9–7.3 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Mounted skeleton of Kubanochoerus at the Beijing Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Suidae
Tribe:	†Kubanochoerini
Genus:	†Kubanochoerus Gabunia 1955
Species
K. gigas (Pearson, 1928) K. lantianensis Qiu, Ye, & Huo 1988 K. mancharensis Van der Made 1996 K. minheensis (Qiu, Li, and Wang, 1981) K. parvus Hou & Deng 2019[1] K. robustus Gabunia 1955 (type)

Taxonomy

K. gigas skull

The genera Libycochoerus and Megalochoerus were once assigned to Kubanochoerus but are now considered distinct based on dental and minor cranial details.^[2]

Photo-reconstruction of K. robustus

The putative paraceratheriid genus Caucasotherium, described from the Caucasus on the basis of a bone fragment with four incisors, is actually a synonym of the Middle Miocene Kubanochoerus gigas.^[3]

Description

Restoration of K. gigas

The largest species, the aptly named K. gigas, grew to be around 1 metre (3.3 ft) at the shoulder, and probably weighed up to 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) in life.^[4] The heads of these pigs were unmistakable, with small eyebrow horns, and a large horn emanating from the forehead of the males. It is speculated that the males used their forehead horns for jousting with each other.