Order ARTIODACTYLA

Sub-order SUINA

Family Suidae

The muzzles of suids are elongated and the cheek teeth are set in straight, parallel lines. There is usually a precanine diastema in the upper jaw and a post-canine diastema in the mandible to accommodate the opposing canine tusk; there may also be spaces between the upper canine and P1 and between the lower canine and I3.

Genus Sus, wild Old World pigs. 191 specimens Examined

In 33 skulls (17.3%) of wild pigs (Sus scrofa) in which the upper jaw was short compared with the sum of the mesio-distal lengths of the post-canine teeth, there was irregularity of the premolars, which was marked in eight (4.2%). Rotation of P3 and P4 or both occurred in ten (5%). In the bearded pig (Sus barbatus), which has a particularly long, slender muzzle, there were no irregularities of the premolars in the 19 skulls examined.

In three skulls of Sus, one or both M3 were rotated and, in one of them, a 5. barbatus (formerly RCS Osteo. Series, 1760), the rotation was by nearly 90°.

Sus scrofa, domestic pigs

It is likely that pigs have been domesticated from local sub-species of the wild boar (Sus scrofa) in several different parts of the world. Western domestic pigs are descended from western sub-species of Sus scrofa and used to resemble them closely, except for being smaller in size. This was established on the basis of detailed craniological measurement by Nathusius (1864).