Neurocranial anatomy of <i>Sus arvernensis</i> (Suidae, Mammalia) from Collepardo (Early Villafranchian; central Italy): taxonomic and biochronological implications

Suidae remains recovered from the late Pliocene site of Collepardo (Latium, central Italy) are described and assigned to <i>Sus arvernensis</i>, a small-sized Ruscinian to Early Villafranchian (MN14-MN16a) species. In Italy, <i>S. arvernensis</i> only occurs in the Triversa Faunal Unit (MN16a), supporting the recently revised chronology of Collepardo. CT-scan methods are used to virtually extract and analyse a newly discovered neurocranium, providing the content for the first inner cranial description carried out on an extinct Suidae. Our analysis reveals that <i>S. arvernensis</i> has an anteroposteriorly elongated and dorsoventrally flat cerebrum, similar to that of the Asian <i>Babyrousa babyrussa</i> and the African <i>Hylochoerus meinertzhageni</i>. These species substantially differ in size and are representatives of two widely diverging phylogenetic clades, excluding relatively simple evolutionary or allometric explanations for brain morphology in Suidae.