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Mammals Discovered In The 2000s
Although the mammals are well studied in comparison to other animal groups, a number of new species are still being discovered. This list includes extant mammal species discovered, formally named, or brought to public light in the year 2000 or later. Notable subspecies are also included, as are mammals rediscovered after being declared, or seriously suspected to be, extinct. Newly discovered fossils are not included. Marsupials At least five new species of marsupials have been discovered since 2000: * The delta opossum (''Philander deltae''); * The Mondolfi's four-eyed opossum (''Philander mondolfii''); * The Arfak pygmy bandicoot (''Microperoryctes aplini''); * The short-eared possum (''Trichosurus caninus''); * The red-bellied gracile opossum (''Cryptonanus ignitus''). Elephants In 2001, genetic evidence emerged that the African elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), once thought to be a single species, was in fact two, as the smaller African forest elephant was in fact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles (including birds) from which they diverged in the Carboniferous, over 300 million years ago. Around 6,400 extant species of mammals have been described divided into 29 orders. The largest orders, in terms of number of species, are the rodents, bats, and Eulipotyphla (hedgehogs, moles, shrews, and others). The next three are the Primates (including humans, apes, monkeys, and others), the Artiodactyla ( cetaceans and even-toed ungulates), and the Carnivora (cats, dogs, seals, and others). In terms of cladistics, which reflects evolutionary history, mammals are the only living members of the Synapsida (synapsids); this clade, together with Saur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isla Escudo De Veraguas
Isla Escudo de Veraguas is a small (4.3 km2) isolated Caribbean island of the Republic of Panama. Despite its name, it is not part of the province of Veraguas, but rather Bocas del Toro. Although located only 17 km from the coastline in the Golfo de los Mosquitos and isolated for only about 9000 years, several animals found on the island are distinct from their mainland counterparts, and two mammal species or subspecies are recognized as occurring only on the island: the fruit bat '' Dermanura watsoni incomitata'' and the sloth ''Bradypus pygmaeus'' (also known as the pygmy sloth). These two taxa and the worm salamander ''Oedipina maritima'' are all considered to be critically endangered due to their being unique to the small island. Other mammals found on the island include the bats ''Glossophaga soricina'', '' Micronycteris megalotis'', ''Carollia brevicauda'', '' Myotis riparius'', and ''Saccopteryx leptura'', the spiny rat ''Hoplomys gymnurus'', and the opossum ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diatomyidae
Diatomyidae is a family of hystricomorph rodents. It is represented by a single living species, ''Laonastes aenigmamus,'' native to Laos in Southeast Asia. Fossil species are known from the Oligocene and Miocene of Asia and eastern Europe. "Lazarus effect" Before ''Laonastes'' was discovered, the family Diatomyidae was known only from fossils. The family has a nearly continuous fossil range from Early Oligocene fossils of '' Fallomus'' from the Lower Chitarwata Formation (32.5 million years ago, Bugti Member, Bugti Hills,) in Balochistan, Pakistan, to Middle/Late Miocene fossils (11 Mya) of ''Diatomys''. Jenkins ''et al.''Jenkins, Paulina D.; Kilpatrick, C. William; Robinson, Mark F. & Timmins, Robert J. (2004): Morphological and molecular investigations of a new family, genus and species of rodent (Mammalia: Rodentia: Hystricognatha) from Lao PDR. ''Systematics and Biodiversity'' 2(4): 419-454. (HTML abstract). Erratum: ''Systematics and Biodiversity'' 3(3):343. reported ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laotian Rock Rat
The Laotian rock rat or ''kha-nyou'' (''Laonastes aenigmamus'', Lao: ຂະຍຸ), sometimes called the "rat-squirrel", is a species of rodent found in the Khammouan region of Laos. The species was first described in a 2005 article by Paulina Jenkins and coauthors, who considered the animal to be so distinct from all living rodents, they placed it in a new family, Laonastidae. It is in the monotypic genus ''Laonastes''. In 2006, the classification of the Laotian rock rat was disputed by Mary Dawson and coauthors. They suggested the rat belongs to the ancient fossil family Diatomyidae, which was thought to have been extinct for 11 million years, since the late Miocene. It would thereby represent a Lazarus species. The animals resemble large, dark rats with hairy, thick tails like those of a squirrel. Their skulls are very distinctive and have features that separate them from all other living mammals. Classification Upon their initial discovery, Jenkins and coauthors (2005) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cypriot Mouse
The Cypriot mouse (''Mus cypriacus'') is a species of mouse endemic to Cyprus. Its primary habitat seems to be the vineyards and fields of the Troödos Mountains region. The mouse was recognized as a new species in 2004 by Thomas Cucchi, a research fellow at the University of Durham. It was formally described in 2006,12 October 2006, in ''Zootaxa''. The Cypriot mouse has characteristics that distinguish it from other European mice: bigger ears, eyes and teeth; DNA tests confirmed that it was a distinct species. It is native to Cyprus. "All other endemic mammals of Mediterranean islands died out following the arrival of man, with the exception of two species of shrew. The new mouse of Cyprus is the only endemic rodent still alive, and as such can be considered as a living fossil," said Cucchi. Originally, Cucchi wanted to call it ''Mus Aphrodite'', as Cyprus is the birthplace of Aphrodite according to Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annamite Striped Rabbit
The Annamite striped rabbit (''Nesolagus timminsi'') is a species of rabbit native to the Annamite mountain range on the Laos-Vietnam border. The rabbit is striped, with a red rump, and resembles the Sumatran striped rabbit. It only recently became known to Western scientists: striped rabbits were first observed in 1996 by biologist Rob Timmins in a market in Bak Lak in Laos, and the species was described in 2000 and named after Timmins' find. Its range includes the Northern and Central Annamites, and possibly the Southern Annamites. Very little is known of its ecology, nor why there is a thousand-mile gap between it and its nearest relative, the Sumatran striped rabbit (''Nesolagus netscheri''). Molecular analysis indicates that the two diverged from a common ancestor about eight million years ago. They may have survived in forested refugia that remained when glacial ice sheets retreated after the last ice age. Threats to the species are hunting, either by snare or less likely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venezuelan Lowland Rabbit
The Venezuelan lowland rabbit (''Sylvilagus varynaensis''), also known as the Barinas wild rabbit, is a cottontail rabbit species found in western Venezuela. Diet Its diet consists in large measure of plants of the genus '' Sida''. Habitat It is found in lowland savannas close to dry forests within the Llanos ecoregion. Description It is the largest of only three leporids known from South America. Head and body length is about 44 cm, with females being slightly larger. Breeding Reproduction takes place over three quarters of the year, with an average of 2.6 embryos per litter, but most commonly during September through December. The gestation period is 35 days. Threats Possible threats to the species include habitat destruction by deforestation and agricultural conversion Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or House, housing * subdivis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Pika
The black pika or silver pika (''Ochotona nigritia'') is a species of mammal in the family Ochotonidae. It was thought to be common to the Yunnan Province of China where it was first discovered in 2000, it is only known from four specimens. The validity of the species has been questioned, with some studies suggesting that the known specimens represent melanistic individuals of Forrest's pika (''Ochotona forresti''). Subsequently, in 2011, a WWF-India team on an expedition to West Kameng, India reported sighting two black pikas at an altitude of 13,000 ft in the Thembang Bapu community-conserved forest area. It is rarely found, one of the six pika species endemic to central China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ..., with no true population studies. References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lagomorph
The lagomorphs are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families: the Leporidae (hares and rabbits) and the Ochotonidae (pikas). The name of the order is derived from the Ancient Greek ''lagos'' (λαγώς, "hare") + ''morphē'' (μορφή, "form"). There are 110 recent species of lagomorph of which 109 are extant, including 34 species of pika, 42 species of rabbit, and 33 species of hare. Taxonomy and evolutionary history Other names used for this order, now considered synonymous, include: ''Duplicidentata'' - Illiger, 1811; ''Leporida'' - Averianov, 1999; ''Neolagomorpha'' - Averianov, 1999; ''Ochotonida'' - Averianov, 1999; and ''Palarodentia'' - Haeckel, 1895, Lilian, 2016. The evolutionary history of the lagomorphs is still not well understood. Until recently, it was generally agreed that '' Eurymylus'', which lived in eastern Asia and dates back to the late Paleocene or early Eocene, was an ancestor of the lagomorphs. More rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madidi Titi
The Madidi titi monkey, also known as the GoldenPalace.com monkey or the golden palace monkey, is a titi, a kind of New World monkey, discovered in western Bolivia's Madidi National Park in 2004. Its scientific name is ''Plecturocebus aureipalatii'', the specific epithet meaning "of the Golden Palace", in reference to GoldenPalace.com, an online casino which paid US$650,000 to have the species named after them, with benefits going toward the nonprofit organization that maintains the park where the titi was discovered. Distribution The species was discovered in low-lying lands of northwestern Bolivia, in the forest at the foot of the Andes. Studies indicate that it inhabits the western bank of the river Beni. The extension to the east and north of its range is not known. Preliminary studies indicate that the species is not endemic to Bolivia, with habitats that may extend to the south of Peru (at least to the Tambopata River). Description The Madidi titi has orange-brown fur, a c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomplete paraphyletic grouping; however, in the broader sense based on cladistics, apes (Hominoidea) are also included, making the terms ''monkeys'' and ''simians'' synonyms in regards to their scope. In 1812, Geoffroy grouped the apes and the Cercopithecidae group of monkeys together and established the name Catarrhini, "Old World monkeys", ("''singes de l'Ancien Monde''" in French). The extant sister of the Catarrhini in the monkey ("singes") group is the Platyrrhini (New World monkeys). Some nine million years before the divergence between the Cercopithecidae and the apes, the Platyrrhini emerged within "monkeys" by migration to South America likely by ocean. Apes are thus deep in the tree of extant and extinct monkeys, and any of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lemur
Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Most existing lemurs are small, have a pointed snout, large eyes, and a long tail. They arboreal, chiefly live in trees and nocturnal, are active at night. Lemurs share resemblance with other primates, but evolved independently from monkeys and apes. Due to Madagascar's highly seasonal climate, Evolution of lemurs, lemur evolution has produced a level of species diversity rivaling that of any other primate group. Until shortly after humans arrived on the island around 2,000 years ago, there were lemurs as large as a male gorilla. Most species have been discovered or promoted to full species status since the 1990s; however, lemur Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic classification is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
