''Tapirus veroensis'', commonly called the vero tapir, is an extinct

tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, with one species inhabit ...

species that lived in the areas of modern-day Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee. ''Tapirus veronensis'' is thought to have gone extinct around 11,000 years ago.

History

The first complete skull with full dentition of ''T. veroensis''

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

was found at Vero Beach, Florida, in 1915 and named in 1918 by the Florida State Geologist E. H. Sellards. Fragmentary specimens had been described by Leidy as early as 1852.

Physical characteristics

''Tapirus veroensis'' fossils found in Northern Alabama were with

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

and

peccary A peccary (also javelina or skunk pig) is a medium-sized, pig-like hoofed mammal of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North A ...

fossils, which implies that ''T. veroensis'' was capable of living in a temperate climate with subfreezing temperatures. ''T. veronensis'' was most similar to the extant

mountain tapir The mountain tapir, also known as the Andean tapir or woolly tapir (''Tapirus pinchaque'') is the smallest of the four widely recognized species of tapir. It is the only one to live outside of tropical rainforests in the wild. It is most easily d ...

. As with all tapir species, ''T. veroensis'' had a

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...

used for grabbing branches to eat foliage. They were

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

s, living on a diet of forest vegetation. They most likely weighed over 600 pounds (270 kilograms) and would have been capable of fending off large predators.

Taxonomy

There are multiple pieces of evidence which indicate most, if not all, of the 5 accepted Pleistocene tapir species found in North America ('' 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, ''T. californicus'' and ''T. veroensis'' are nearly impossible to distinguish morphologically and occupy the same time frame, 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''). Additionally, few details distinguish ''T. haysii'' and ''T. veroensis'' except size, date, and wear of teeth; and the intermediate sizes overlap greatly with many specimens originally assigned to one species, then later switched over to another.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q22286311 Prehistoric tapirs