Tapirus merriami
| Tapirus merriami Temporal range:Middle-Late Pleistocene
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Scientific classification
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Tapiridae |
| Genus: | Tapirus |
| Species: | †T. merriami
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| Binomial name | |
| †Tapirus merriami Frick,1921
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Tapirus merriami,commonly calledMerriam's tapir,is anextinctspecies oftapirwhich inhabitedNorth Americaduring thePleistocene.
Early history
[edit]Tapirs have a long history on the North American continent. Fossils of ancient tapirs in North America can be dated back to 50 million-year-oldEocenerocks onEllesmere Island,Canada,which was then a temperate climate.[1]By 13 million years before present, tapirs very much likeextanttapirs existed inSouthern California.[2]
During the Pleistocene epoch, four species of tapir are known to have inhabited North America. Along withT. merriami,Tapirus californicusalso lived in California,Tapirus veroensiswas found in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee, andTapirus copeiwas found from Pennsylvania to Florida.[3]
First discovered and described in 1921 by American vertebratepaleontologistChilds Frick,T. merriamilived at the same time, and perhaps many of the same locations, asT. californicus,[4]but is believed to have preferred more inland habitats of southern California and Arizona. LikeT. californicusand all living tapirs, it is believed to have been a relatively solitary species. Of the four known Pleistocene-era tapirs found on the North American continent,T. merriamiwas the largest.[3]T. merriamiwas a stout-bodied herbivore with short legs, a large, tapering head, and a short, muscular proboscis adept at stripping leaves from shrubs.[5]
References
[edit]- ^Eberle, J. 2005. A new "tapir" from Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada - Implications for northern high latitude palaeobiogeography and tapir palaeobiology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 277(4): 311–322.
- ^M. Colbert and R. Schoch 1998. Tapiroidea and other moropomorphs. In: C. Janis, K. Scott, L. Jacobs, (eds) Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Volume I: Terrestrial carnivores, ungulates, and ungulate like mammals. Cambridge University Press.
- ^abBjörn Kurtén, Elaine Anderson (1980).Pleistocene mammals of North America.Columbia University Press. pp. 293–294.ISBN0-231-03733-3.
- ^C. Janis (1984).Tapirs as living fossils.N. Eldredge and S. Stanley (eds.). New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. 80–86.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^Jefferson, George T. Contributions in Science: Late Cenozoic Tapirs (Mammalia: Perissodactyla) of Western North America