The systematics of the wild boar (Sus scrofaL.) in Italy

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Abstract
This work concerns the systematics of Italian wild boars from the viewpoint of morphological, historical and paleontological data. Craniometric measurements from specimens belonging to the historically recognized subspecies were compared with similar data on West Germany populations (Sus scrafa scrofa). Univariate statistical analysis shows a significant difference between the studied populations whereas, adjusting the values with respect to the size effect, the differences tend to disappear. This adjustment virtually eliminates the morphometric distances among the populations. Although differences among the Sardinian and the continental populations seem to be mainly attributable to a size factor, their magnitude and the origin of the population support S. s. meridionalis as a distinct subspecies. S. s. majori does not have these peculiarities and is similar in size to the Iberian wild boar S. s. castilianus, distributed at the end of the European Sus scrofa range; therefore it is probably the last part of a cline of Sus scrofa in Europe. Late Quaternary fossil remains compared with the recent material, indicate the presence of a large form of wild boar in northern Italy at least until 1200 B.C.