Tapiroidea

Tapiroids
Temporal range: Eocene–Recent
Malayan tapir
(Tapiridae)
Irenolophus
(Deperetellidae)
Helaletes
(Helaletidae)
Lophialetes
(Lophialetidae)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Clade: Tapiromorpha
Suborder: Ceratomorpha
Superfamily: Tapiroidea
Gill, 1872
Families

Tapiroidea is a superfamily of perissodactyls which includes the living tapirs and their extinct relatives. Tapiroids represent one of the oldest living lineages of large mammals. Their closest living relatives are rhinoceroses; the ancestral lineages of tapirs and rhinoceroses split from each other approximately 51–47 million years ago. Once a large group encompassing several families, tapiroids are today represented only by the four living species of the genus Tapirus. All living species are listed as endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Fossil record

The fossil record of tapiroids stretches back to the Early Eocene. Out of the three extant perissodactyl lineages, tapirs have the poorest and least well understood fossil record. Most tapiroids appear to have been relatively conservative, unlike the diversity seen in equoids and rhinocerotoids. Both ancient and modern tapirs appear to have inhabited closed-canopy warm forests.

Tapiroids were numerous and widespread in the Eocene in both North America and Asia, and is represented by several taxa in the Oligocene of both North America and Europe. Tapiroid diversity declined sharply after the Oligocene. Tapiridae first appeared during the early Oligocene in Europe, and may have originated from the tapiroid family Helaletidae.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Medeiros Pinho, Gabriela; Qi, Luan Lim; Annavi, Geetha; Gonçalves da Silva, Anders; Saranholi, Bruno H. (2024). "Evolution, Biogeography, and Genetics of Living Tapirs". In Melletti, Mario; Reyna-Hurtado, Rafael; Medici, Patrícia (eds.). Tapirs of the World. Springer Nature. pp. 3–24. ISBN 978-3-031-65310-0.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 MacLaren, Jamie A.; Holbrook, Luke T. (2024). "The Fossil Record of Tapirs". In Melletti, Mario; Reyna-Hurtado, Rafael; Medici, Patrícia (eds.). Tapirs of the World. Springer Nature. pp. 25–59. ISBN 978-3-031-65310-0.
  3. 1 2 Bai, Bin; Meng, Jin; Mao, Fang-Yuan; Zhang, Zhao-Qun; Wang, Yuan-Qing (2019-11-08). Smith, Thierry (ed.). "A new early Eocene deperetellid tapiroid illuminates the origin of Deperetellidae and the pattern of premolar molarization in Perissodactyla". PLOS ONE. 14 (11) e0225045. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1425045B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225045. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6839866. PMID 31703104.
  4. ↑ Scherler, Laureline; Becker, Damien; Berger, Jean-Pierre (2011). "Tapiridae (Perissodactyla, Mammalia) of the Swiss Molasse Basin during the Oligocene–Miocene transition". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (2): 479–496. Bibcode:2011JVPal..31..479S. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.550360. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 73527662.