Tapirus polkensis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tapirus polkensis
Temporal range: Late Miocene–Early Pliocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Tapiridae
Genus: Tapirus
Species: T. polkensis
Binomial name
Tapirus polkensis
Olsen, 1860

Tapirus polkensis, the pygmy tapir, is a small prehistoric tapir that lived in North America during the Late Miocene and early Pliocene.[1] T. polkensis may lived in swamps, where it would have been preyed on by ancestors of modern American crocodiles.[citation needed] T. polkensis had an estimated mass of around 125 kg (276 lb),[1] making it smaller than any extant tapir, save for the recently discovered little black tapir, T. kabomani, which weighs 110 kg (240 lb)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Richard C. Hulbert Jr., Steven C. Wallace, Walter E. Klippel & Paul W. Parmalee (2009). "Cranial morphology and systematics of an extraordinary sample of the Late Neogene dwarf tapir, Tapirus polkensis (Olsen)". Journal of Paleontology 83 (2): 238–262. doi:10.1666/08-062.1. 


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.