On the authorship, availability, and improper use of Sus scrofa ferus for referring to wild pigs

The wild boar, Sus scrofa, is one of the most successful large mammals in terms of geographic distribution. Along with its domestic descendant, the pig, they are extremely important animals for conservation, economy, human sustenance, and well-being. Naming wild and domestic pigs in a way that allows them to be distinguished effectively and unambiguously is crucial for a number of studies in archaeozoology, biomedicine, genetics, epidemiology, paleontology, and wildlife management. Sus scrofa ferus, or less commonly, Sus ferus, is often used to refer to wild populations, frequently in opposition to S. scrofa domesticus, or S. domesticus in reference to domestic pigs. Here, it is argued that S. scrofa ferus is available for nomenclatural purposes but should not be regarded as valid from a taxonomic perspective. Authors should refer wild populations to valid subspecies, e.g., S. scrofa scrofa, or to S. scrofa ssp., when information on the subspecific status is not available or relevant for the research questions under consideration. This remark is not a mere nomenclatural clarification, because the potential identification of differences between wild boar taxa is often hidden behind a simplistic dichotomy between wild and domestic forms.