Biology:Cape warthog
From HandWiki
| Cape warthog | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Suidae |
| Genus: | Phacochoerus |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | †P. a. aethiopicus
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| Trinomial name | |
| Phacochoerus aethiopicus aethiopicus (Pallas, 1766)
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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:[citation needed]
- 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
Wikidata ☰ Q13560082 entry
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