Tapirus lundeliusi

Tapirus lundeliusi is an extinct species of tapir that lived in Florida in the early Pleistocene.[1] It was similar in size and shape to the still-living mountain tapir (T. pinchaque).

Tapirus lundeliusi
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Tapiridae
Genus: Tapirus
Species:
†T. lundeliusi
Binomial name
†Tapirus lundeliusi
Hulbert, 2010

Taxonomy

There are multiple pieces of evidence which indicate most, if not all, of the 5 accepted Pleistocene tapir species found in the modern-day United States (T. californicus, T. haysii (T. copei), T. lundeliusi, T. merriami, T. veroensis) may actually belong to the same species. T. californicus was considered to be a subspecies of T. haysii by Merriam,[2] T. californicus and T. veroensis are nearly impossible to distinguish morphologically and occupy the same time frame,[3] being separated only by location, and T. haysii, T. veroensis, and T. lundeliusi are already considered so closely related that they occupy the same subgenus (Helicotapirus).[1] Additionally, few details distinguish T. haysii and T. veroensis except size, date, and wear of teeth;[4] and the intermediate sizes overlap greatly with many specimens originally assigned to one species, then later switched over to another.[4]

References
  1. Hulbert, Richard Jr. (September 30, 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.
  2. "Tapirus haysii californicus". Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  3. Jefferson, George T. (August 14, 1989). "Late Cenozoic Tapirs (Mammalia: Perissodactyla) of Western North America" (PDF). Contributions in Science (406).
  4. "Tapirus haysii". Florida Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 12 March 2017.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.