Ursidae

Spectacled bears Tremarctos ornatus. Photograph from here.

Belongs within: Carnivora.

The Ursidae, bears, are a family of relatively large carnivorans found primarily in Eurasia and the Americas. The living forms are plantigrade and omnivorous (in the case of the giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca primarily herbivorous whereas the polar bear Ursus maritimus is primarily carnivorous). Among recent species, the largest is U. maritimus; the smallest is the sun bear Helarctos malayanus. The spectacled bear Tremarctos ornatus is the only living species found in South America, where it mostly inhabits the Andes of the northwestern part of the continent. The extinct subfamilies Amphicynodontinae and Hemicyoninae were longer-faced (and often smaller) than modern bears; the Hemicyoninae in particular were superficially similar to dogs.

Synapomorphies (from Flynn et al. 1988): Malleus with tensor tympani insertion process reduced or lost; two upper and three lower molars; upper molars enlarged by expansion of metaconule; protocone and metaconule of upper molars forming longitudinal crest occluding with enlarged talonid cusps of lower molars; M² developing posteriorly projecting platform occluding with M₃; M² trigonid lacking paraconid. Internal carotid artery folded intracranially within inferior petrosal sinus.

<==Ursidae [Ursoidea]
    |  i. s.: Tremarctotherium simum FP64
    |         Euarctos americanus GM71
    |--Amphicynodontinae [Amphicynodontidae] MJ11
    |    |  i. s.: Parictis parvus MJ11, FF06
    |    |--Amphicynodon teilhardi RDT09, FF06
    |    `--+--+--Allocyon RDT09
    |       |  `--Pachycynodon gryei RDT09, T76
    |       `--Hemicyoninae MJ11
    |            |--Cephalogale RDT09
    |            `--Hemicyon DW04
    |                 |--H. johnhenryi [=Phoberocyon johnhenryi] V91
    |                 `--H. teilhardi DW04
    `--Ursinae C96
         |  i. s.: Ursavus elmensis JC07, B84a
         |         Ailurarctos JC07
         |--+--+--Indarctos atticus SA06, FF06
         |  |  `--Agriotherium Wagner 1837 SA06, D07
         |  |       |--A. africanum S78
         |  |       |--A. gregoryi D07
         |  |       |--A. inexpetans DW04
         |  |       |--A. schneideri D07
         |  |       `--A. sivalensis D07
         |  `--Ailuropoda [Ailuropodidae, Ailuropodinae, Ailuropodini] JC07
         |       |--A. baconi JC07
         |       |--A. melanoleuca (David 1869) H07
         |       |--A. microta JC07
         |       `--A. wulingshanensis JC07
         `--+--+--Tremarctos Gervais 1855 FS15, C57 [incl. Nearctos Gray 1876 C57; Tremarctinae]
            |  |    |--*T. ornatus (Cuvier 1825) (see below for synonymy) C57
            |  |    `--T. floridanus V91
            |  `--+--Arctodus FS15
            |     |    |--A. pristinus V91
            |     |    `--A. simus V91
            |     `--Arctotherium FS15
            |          |--A. tarijense FS15
            |          `--A. wingei FS15
            `--+--Helarctos malayanus FS15 [=Ursus malayanus BP87]
               `--+--Melursus ursinus FS15
                  `--Ursus Linnaeus 1758 FS15, L58
                       |  i. s.: U. abstrusus TH03
                       |         U. deningeri [incl. U. dolinensis] ME05
                       |         U. etruscus L84
                       |         U. formosanus Swinhoe 1864 S66
                       |         U. lotor Linnaeus 1758 L58
                       |         U. meles Linnaeus 1758 L58
                       |         U. minimus B84a
                       |         U. rodei ME05
                       |         U. syriacus T66
                       |--U. thibetanus FS15 [=Selenarctos thibetanus BP87]
                       |    |--U. t. thibetanus I92
                       |    `--‘Selenarctos’ t. japonicus (Schlegel 1857) I92
                       `--+--U. americanus Pallas 1780 FS15, B75
                          |    |--U. a. americanus B84c
                          |    |--U. a. altifrontalis B84c
                          |    |--U. a. carlottae B84c
                          |    |--U. a. cinnamomum B84c
                          |    |--U. a. emmonsii B84c
                          |    |--U. a. eremicus MB86
                          |    |--U. a. hamiltoni B84c
                          |    |--U. a. kermodei B84c
                          |    |--U. a. machetes Elliot 1903 MB86
                          |    `--U. a. vancouveri B84c
                          `--+--U. spelaeus FS15
                             `--+--U. arctos Linnaeus 1758 FS15, L58
                                |    |--U. a. arctos B84b
                                |    |--U. a. horribilis B84b
                                |    |--U. a. middendorffi B84b
                                |    |--U. a. nelsoni USDI77
                                |    |--U. a. pruinosus USDI77
                                |    `--U. a. yesoensis Lydekker 1897 I92
                                `--U. maritimus FS15 [=Thalarctos maritimus BP87]

Inorganic: Helarctos malayanus protominilorientalus Okamura 1987 O87
           Thalarctos maritimus minilorientalus Okamura 1987 O87
           Ursus arctos protominilorientalus Okamura 1987 O87

*Tremarctos ornatus (Cuvier 1825) [=Ursus ornatus, Helarctos ornatus, Nearctos ornatus; incl. Ursus frugilegus Tschudi 1844, U. fructilegus, Tremarctos lasallei María 1924, T. ornatus majori Thomas 1902, U. nasutus Sclater 1868, U. ornatus thomasi Hornaday 1911] C57

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

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[B84b] Bunnell, F. 1984b. Grizzly bear. In: Macdonald, D. (ed.) All the World’s Animals: Carnivores pp. 80–83. Torstar Books Inc.: New York.

[B84c] Bunnell, F. 1984c. American black bear. In: Macdonald, D. (ed.) All the World’s Animals: Carnivores pp. 86–87. Torstar Books Inc.: New York.

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Last updated: 6 August 2018.