Sus strozzii (Mammalia, Suidae) of the Late Villafranchian Site of Senèze (Domeyrat, Haute-Loire, France)

No remains of Sus strozzii[aut]Susstrozzii were found during the new excavations in Senèze, but the nearly complete skeleton of a young male was found before World War II and is preserved in the Basel Natural History Museum. It was briefly studied and well illustrated by Azzaroli in 1954. The species is a large one, anatomically closer to the recent Southeast Asian long-snouted Sus verrucosus[aut]Susverrucosus and S. barbatus than to the recent Eurasian Sus scrofa[aut]Susscrofa. Its cheek teeth are wider and lower, its molars less complicated and covered with thicker enamelEnamel than those of S. scrofa. Its limb bones are stockier than those of S. scrofa. S. strozzii is known in Western and Southeastern Europe and in the Middle East from the Early Villafranchian (biozone MNQ 16) onwards up to the early Middle PleistoceneMiddle pleistocene (biozone MNQ 20). The presence of Sus strozzii[aut]Susstrozzii is a clear indication of a rather forested area under a wet and probably warm climate.