Kolpochoerus [SEP] parent taxon
Kolpochoerus
Kolpochoerus is an extinct genus of the pig family Suidae related to the modern-day genera "Hylochoerus" and "Potamochoerus". It is believed that most of them inhabited African forests, as opposed to the bushpig and red river hog that inhabit open brush and savannas. There are currently eight recognized species.
Species.
In taxonomic order:
- Genus †"Kolpochoerus"
- "K. deheinzelini" — Chad, Ethiopia (Early Pliocene)
- "K. afarensis" - East Africa (Pliocene)
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of