The fossil suids from the Chiwondo Beds in northern Malawi constitute four separate assemblages that may be used for internal and external biostratigraphic correlation. Pig remains occur in two stratigraphic units. Unit 2 contains Notochoerus jaegeri. The younger stratigraphic unit 3A can be subdivided by the suid fauna into an older zone 3A-1 containing Notochoerus euilus and zone 3A-2 with more advanced forms such as Notochoerus scotti and early Metridiochoerus andrewsi. Unit 3B contains advanced M. andrewsi and M. compactus. Bushpig and warthog remains have also been recovered but their stratigraphic position could not be determined. A method of documenting the structural density of enamel bands on the occlusal surface of suid cheek teeth can be used to correlate the Chiwondo Beds suids with similar species from elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa and thereby for estimating the age of the two hominins discovered by the Hominid Corridor Research Project.
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1 March 2008
The Fossil Suidae from the Plio-Pleistocene Chiwondo Beds of Northern Malawi, Africa
Ottmar Kullmer
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Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
Vol. 28 • No. 1
March 2008
Vol. 28 • No. 1
March 2008