Tapirus
Temporal range: Miocene – Recent
South American tapir, a type species of Tapirus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Tapiridae
Genus: Tapirus
Brisson, 1762[1]
Type species
Hippopotamus terrestris
(=Tapirus terrestris)
Species

For extinct species, see text

Synonyms[1]
About 12

Tapirus is a genus of tapir which contains the living tapir species. The Malayan tapir is usually included in Tapirus as well, although some authorities have moved it into its own genus, Acrocodia.[2]

Extant species

ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Baird's tapir (also called the Central American tapir)Tapirus bairdii (Gill, 1865)Mexico, Central America and northwestern South America.
South American tapir (also called the Brazilian tapir or lowland tapir)Tapirus terrestris (Linnaeus, 1758)Venezuela, Colombia, and the Guianas in the north to Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay in the south, to Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador in the West
Mountain tapir (also called the woolly tapir)Tapirus pinchaque (Roulin, 1829)Eastern and Central Cordilleras mountains in Colombia, Ecuador, and the far north of Peru.
Malayan tapir (also called the Asian tapir, Oriental tapir or Indian tapir)Tapirus indicus (Desmarest, 1819)Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand

The Kabomani tapir was at one point recognized as another living member of the genus, but is now considered to be nested within T. terrestris.[4][5]

Evolution

Tapirus first appeared in the Late Miocene in North America, with Tapirus webbi perhaps the oldest known fossil species.

Tapirus spread into South America and Eurasia during the Pliocene. It has been suggested that the tapirs that inhabited North America during the Late Pleistocene may be derived from a South American species that remigrated north, perhaps Tapirus cristatellus.[6]

Tapirs suffered large-scale extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene, and went completely extinct north of southern Mexico.

Fossil species

References

  1. 1 2 Grubb, P. (2005). "Order Perissodactyla". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 633. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. 1 2 Groves, C.P.; Grubb, P. (2011). Ungulate Taxonomy (PDF). Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 18–20. ISBN 978-1-4214-0093-8. LCCN 2011008168. OCLC 708357723. OL 25220152M. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-12-26.
  3. 1 2 3 Hulbert, Richard C. (2010). "A new early Pleistocene tapir (Mammalia: Perissodactyla) from Florida, with a review of Blancan tapirs from the state" (PDF). Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History. 49 (3): 67–126.
  4. ↑ Ruiz-García, Manuel; Castellanos, Armando; Bernal, Luz Agueda; Pinedo-Castro, Myreya; Kaston, Franz; Shostell, Joseph M. (2016-03-01). "Mitogenomics of the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque, Tapiridae, Perissodactyla, Mammalia) in Colombia and Ecuador: Phylogeography and insights into the origin and systematics of the South American tapirs". Mammalian Biology. 81 (2): 163–175. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2015.11.001. ISSN 1616-5047.
  5. ↑ "All About the Terrific Tapir | Tapir Specialist Group". Tapir Specialist Group. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  6. 1 2 Holanda, E.C.; Ferrero, B.S. (2012). "Reappraisal of the Genus Tapirus (Perissodactyla, Tapiridae): Systematics and Phylogenetic Affinities of the South American Tapirs". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 20: 33–44. doi:10.1007/s10914-012-9196-z. hdl:11336/18792. S2CID 254697945.
  7. ↑ Holanda, E.C.; Rincón, A.D. (2012). "Tapirs from the Pleistocene of Venezuela". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 57 (3): 463–473. doi:10.4202/app.2011.0001. S2CID 54846719.
  8. 1 2 Tong, H. (2002). "On fossil remains of Early Pleistocene tapir (Perissodactyla, Mammalia) from Fanchang, Anhui". Chinese Science Bulletin. 47 (7): 586–590. doi:10.1360/02tb9135. S2CID 128416226.
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