Hippopotamodon erymanthius (suidae, mammalia) from mahmutgazi, Denizli-Çal Basin, Turkey

Abstract

The Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in Karlsruhe houses an interesting collection of Turolian mammals from Mahmutgazi, Turkey, among which is a comprehensive sample of the large suid, Hippopotamodon erymanthius. The fossils plot out within the range of metric variation of H. erymanthius from Pikermi and Samos, Greece, but lie at the lower end of the range. Like the suids from these sites, the Mahmutgazi specimens lack the first premolar. Overall, the Mahmutgazi sample is metrically and morphologically close to the material from Akkaşdağı, Turkey. The upper and lower third molars and fourth premolars are, on average, smaller than those of Hippopotamodon major from Luberon, France (MN 13). Two undescribed fossils of H. erymanthius from Pikermi are housed at the SMNK, and are included in this paper in order to fill out the data base for the species at this locality. The chronological position, palaeoecology and sexual dimorphism of the Mahmutgazi suids are discussed.