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Pecora
Pecora is an infraorder of even-toed hoofed mammals with ruminant digestion. Most members of Pecora have cranial appendages projecting from their frontal bones; only two extant genera lack them, ''Hydropotes'' and ''Moschus''. The name “Pecora” comes from the Latin word ''pecus'', which means “horned livestock”.Bubenik, A. Epigenetical, Morphological, Physiological, and Behavioral Aspects of Evolution of Horns, Pronghorns, and Antlers. in ''Horns, Pronghorns, and Antlers''. G. Bubenik and A. Bubenik eds. Springer-Verlag. New York. 1990 Although most pecorans have cranial appendages, only some of these are properly called “horns”, and many scientists agree that these appendages did not arise from a common ancestor, but instead evolved independently on at least two occasions.Janis, C., K. Scott. The Interrelationships of Higher Ruminant Families with Special Emphasis on the Members of the Cervoidea. ''American Museum Novitates''. 2893: 1-85. 1987. http://digitallibrary. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artiodactyla
The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. By contrast, odd-toed ungulates bear weight on an odd number of the five toes. Another difference between the two is that many other even-toed ungulates (with the exception of Suina) digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine as the odd-toed ungulates do. Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) evolved from even-toed ungulates, and are therefore often classified under the same taxonomic branch because a species cannot outgrow its evolutionary ancestry; some modern taxonomists combine the two under the name Cetartiodactyla , while others opt to include cetaceans in the already-existing Artiodactyla. The roughly 270 land-based even-toed ungulate species include pigs, peccaries, hippopo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruminantia
Ruminants ( suborder Ruminantia) are hoofed herbivorous grazing or browsing mammals that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions. The process, which takes place in the front part of the digestive system and therefore is called foregut fermentation, typically requires the fermented ingesta (known as cud) to be regurgitated and chewed again. The process of rechewing the cud to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion is called rumination. The word "ruminant" comes from the Latin ''ruminare'', which means "to chew over again". The roughly 200 species of ruminants include both domestic and wild species. Ruminating mammals include cattle, all domesticated and wild bovines, goats, sheep, giraffes, deer, gazelles, and antelopes.Fowler, M.E. (2010).Medicine and Surgery of Camelids, Ames, Iowa: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 1 General Biology and Evolution addresses the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruminant
Ruminants (suborder Ruminantia) are ungulate, hoofed herbivorous grazing or browsing mammals that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by Enteric fermentation, fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions. The process, which takes place in the front part of the digestive system and therefore is called foregut fermentation, typically requires the fermented ingesta (known as cud) to be regurgitated and chewed again. The process of rechewing the cud to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion is called rumination. The word "ruminant" comes from the Latin ''ruminare'', which means "to chew over again". The roughly 200 species of ruminants include both domestic and wild species. Ruminating mammals include cattle, all domesticated and wild bovines, goats, sheep, giraffes, deer, gazelles, and antelopes.Fowler, M.E. (2010).Medicine and Surgery of Camelids, Ames, Iowa: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 1 General Biolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giraffidae
The Giraffidae are a family of ruminant artiodactyl mammals that share a common ancestor with deer and bovids. This family, once a diverse group spread throughout Eurasia and Africa, presently comprises only two extant genera, the giraffe (one or more species of ''Giraffa'', depending on taxonomic interpretation) and the okapi (the only known species of ''Okapia''). Both are confined to sub-Saharan Africa: the giraffe to the open savannas, and the okapi to the dense rainforest of the Congo. The two genera look very different on first sight, but share a number of common features, including a long, dark-coloured tongue, lobed canine teeth, and horns covered in skin, called ossicones. Taxonomy Evolutionary background The giraffids are ruminants of the clade Pecora. Other extant pecorans are the families Antilocapridae (pronghorns), Cervidae (deer), Moschidae (musk deer), and Bovidae (cattle, goats and sheep, wildebeests and allies, and antelopes). The exact interrelationships a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antilocapridae
The Antilocapridae are a family of artiodactyls endemic to North America. Their closest extant relatives are the giraffids with which they comprise the superfamily Giraffoidea. Only one species, the pronghorn (''Antilocapra americana''), is living today; all other members of the family are extinct. The living pronghorn is a small ruminant mammal resembling an antelope. Description In most respects, antilocaprids resemble other ruminants. They have a complex, four-chambered stomach for digesting tough plant matter, cloven hooves, and small, forked horns. Their horns resemble those of the bovids, in that they have a true horny sheath, but, uniquely, they are shed outside the breeding season, and subsequently regrown. Their lateral toes are even further diminished than in bovids, with the digits themselves being entirely lost, and only the cannon bones remaining. Antilocaprids have the same dental formula as most other ruminants: . Classification The antilocaprids are ruminants o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cervidae
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer (caribou), white-tailed deer, the roe deer, and the moose. Male deer of all species (except the water deer), as well as female reindeer, grow and shed new antlers each year. In this they differ from permanently horned antelope, which are part of a different family (Bovidae) within the same order of even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla). The musk deer (Moschidae) of Asia and chevrotains (Tragulidae) of tropical African and Asian forests are separate families that are also in the ruminant clade Ruminantia; they are not especially closely related to Cervidae. Deer appear in art from Paleolithic cave paintings onwards, and they have played a role in mythology, religion, and literature throughout history, as well as in heraldry, such as red dee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tragulina
Tragulina (also known as Traguliformes) is an infraorder of even-toed ungulates. Only the chevrotains survive to the present, including the genera ''Tragulus'' (the mouse deer) and ''Hyemoschus'', all within the family Tragulidae. Taxonomy and Classification Tragulina is an infraorder within the larger suborder Ruminantia, and is the sister clade to the infraorder Pecora. Tragulina contains one extant (living) family, Tragulidae, as well as several extinct families, although the extinct members currently classified as within Tragulina causes it to be considered paraphyletic. Tragulina's placement within Artiodactyla can be represented in the following cladogram:(see e.g. Fig S10) The following is the taxonomy of the group Tragulina. *Infrarorder TRAGULINA **† Praetragulidae ***'' Praetragulus'' ***'' Parvitragulus'' ***'' Simimeryx'' **† Archaeomerycidae ***'' Archaeomeryx'' ***'' Miomeryx'' ***'' Paukkaungmeryx'' **†Gelocidae ***'' Phaneromeryx'' ***'' Paragelocus' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gelocidae
The Gelocidae are an extinct group of hornless ruminants, ruminantia that are estimated to have lived during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs, from 36 MYA (unit), MYA to 6 MYA. The family generally includes extinct hornless ruminants which do not belong to similar families such as Moschidae (musk deer) or Tragulidae. Fossils of family Gelocidae have been discovered in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. Description Members of the family Gelocidae were long-legged, even-toed ungulates adapted for running and grazing. The Gelocidae likely share a close common ancestor with Moschidae and were of a similar size and shape. They had similar dentition and proportions to members of Moschidae, but lacked the sabre-like tusks of the modern musk deer. Bibliography {{Taxonbar, from=Q15057307 Pecora Prehistoric mammal families ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaeomerycidae
The Palaeomerycidae are an extinct family of ruminants in the order Artiodactyla. Palaeomerycids lived in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia from 33 to 4.9 million years ago (from the Late Eocene to Pliocene epochs), existing for about 28 million years; one species was also reported from South America, but its identity as a palaeomerycid was subsequently disputed. Specimens of '' Amphitragulus'', the earliest known genus, have been found in Aragon (Spain), Ronheim (Germany), Sardinia (Italy), France, and Kazakhstan and range from 33 to 15.97 million years old. Fossils of '' Lagomeryx'' and ''Palaeomeryx feignouxi'' were recovered in Germany and Slovakia from the Middle Eocene. The oldest known North American specimen, '' Barbouromeryx'', was discovered in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, and estimated at 23.03 million years old. Palaeomerycids such as ''Cranioceras'' and other Dromomerycinae continued to live in North America until the early Pliocene. Description Palaeomerycids w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moschidae
Moschidae is a family of pecoran even-toed ungulates, containing the musk deer (''Moschus'') and its extinct relatives. They are characterized by long 'saber teeth' instead of horns, antlers or ossicones, modest size (''Moschus'' only reaches ; other taxa were even smaller) and a lack of facial glands. The fossil record of the family extends back to the late Oligocene, around 28 million years ago. The group was abundant across Eurasia and North America during the Miocene, but afterwards declined to only the extant genus ''Moschus'' by the early Pleistocene. Taxonomy and classification Until the beginning of the 21st century it was understood that the family Moschidae (musk deer) was sister to Cervidae. However, a 2003 phylogenetic study by Alexandre Hassanin (of National Museum of Natural History, France) and colleagues, based on mitochondrial and nuclear analyses, revealed that Moschidae and Bovidae form a clade sister to Cervidae. According to the study, Cervidae diverged from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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