Tetraconodon and Sivachoerus (Suidae) from Dhok Pathan and Hasnot area of Potwar Plateau, northern Pakistan

Siwalik Group or Siwaliks is famous as a stratigraphic unit containing numerous fossiliferous pockets for vertebrate faunas of Neogene ages. The Middle Siwalik Subgroup (Late Miocene–early Pliocene of Neogene) comprises Nagri and Dhok Pathan formations. Tetraconodon magnus and Sivachoerus prior remains are extremely rare in the Siwaliks, and these tetraconodonts are ascribed in this article from Middle Siwalik deposits of the Late Miocene age. Tetraconodon is considered to have occurred in the Nagri Formation of the Siwalik Group. However, the specimens described here, recovered from the Dhok Pathan Formation (8.2 Ma), are important in relieving the long-held notion of the previous researchers that these are found only from the Nagri Formation (11.5–9 Ma). Similarly, Sivachoerus prior appeared earlier (~ 6.6 Ma) than it was thought previously (5–3 Ma). So, the present studies extended the geological ranges of these Siwalik tetraconodonts.