Perchoerus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of peccary}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|fossil_range = Late Eocene - Early Oligocene
{{fossil range|37|30}}

|image = Perchoerus.jpg

|image_caption = Fossils in Berlin

|taxon = Perchoerus

|authority = Leidy, 1869

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• P. minor
• P. nanus
• P. probus

| synonyms =

• Bothrolabis
• Chaenohyus

| synonyms_ref =

}}

File:Perchoerus minor Cook.jpg

Perchoerus is an extinct genus of suine from the Eocene and Oligocene of North America. Three species are known.{{cite book |last1=Prothero |first1=Donald R. |title=THE SYSTEMATICS OF NORTH AMERICAN PECCARIES (MAMMALIA: ARTIODACTYLA: TAYASSUIDAE) By · 2021 |date=2021 |publisher=New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science |pages=6–8}}{{cite journal |last1=Prothero |first1=Donald R. |title=THE EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN PECCARIES |journal=Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin |date=2009 |volume=65 |pages=509–542}} While often considered to be a peccary, other studies have recovered it to be a basal suine outside of either peccaries or Suidae.{{Cite journal |last1=Parisi Dutra |first1=Rodrigo |last2=Casali |first2=Daniel de Melo |last3=Missagia |first3=Rafaela Velloso |last4=Gasparini |first4=Germán Mariano |last5=Perini |first5=Fernando Araujo |last6=Cozzuol |first6=Mario Alberto |date=2016-09-13 |title=Phylogenetic Systematics of Peccaries (Tayassuidae: Artiodactyla) and a Classification of South American Tayassuids |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10914-016-9347-8 |journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=345–358 |doi=10.1007/s10914-016-9347-8 |issn=1064-7554|hdl=11336/54840 |hdl-access=free }} The oldest known species of Perchoerus is P. minor, which was only the size of a house cat. It is known from skull and tooth material.

The later P. nanus of the Orellan grew larger and is known from a skull and lower jaw. The latest and largest species was P. probus of the Oligocene (32-30 mya). It was much larger (about as big as living peccaries) and known from more remains than the other species.{{cite book |last1=Prothero |first1=Donald R. |last2=Williams |first2=Mary Persis |title=The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals |date=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9781400884452 |pages=157–158}}