Camelidae

Dromedary camel Camelus dromedarius, copyright Jjron.

Belongs within: Artiodactyla.

The Camelidae are a group of long-necked herbivorous mammals with living species native to Africa, Asia and South America. Members of this group have a three-chambered ruminating stomach.

Characters (from Animal Diversity Web): Large, ranging in weight from 35 to 650 kg. Head small; neck long, gracile; legs long, slender. Upper lip deeply cleft. Fore legs plantigrade; toes splayed. Skull with rostrum elongate; sagittal crest well developed; postorbital bar complete. Adult dental formula 1/3, 1/1, 2-3/1-2, 3/3; juveniles with three pairs of upper incisors but adults with only one canine-like pair; lower incisors spatulate, projecting forward; canines medium-sized, hooked; cheek teeth selenodont. Wide diastema separating incisors and cheek teeth. Legs with ulna and fibula much reduced, present mainly as splint on radius or tibia. Third and fourth metapodials fusing to form cannon bone proximally only, splaying apart distally. First two phalanges of each digit flattened and expanded; last reduced, bearing a nail. Middle (second) phalanges imbedded in broad pad making up sole of foot.

<==Camelidae
    |--Camelus Linnaeus 1758 FS15, L58
    |    |--C. bactrianus Linnaeus 1758 GC-BG04
    |    |--C. dromedarius Linnaeus 1758 L58
    |    |--C. ferus Przewalski 1878 GC-BG04
    |    |--C. glama Linnaeus 1758 L58
    |    |--C. pacos Linnaeus 1758 L58
    |    |--C. sivalensis 78
    |    `--C. thomasi Pomel 1893 G78
    `--+--Palaeolama FS15
       |    |--P. weddeli FS15
       |    `--+--P. major FS15
       |       `--P. mirifica FS15
       `--+--Camelops hesternus FS15
          `--+--Hemiauchenia FS15
             |    |--H. macrocephala FS15
             |    `--H. paradoxa FS15
             `--+--Vicugna FS15
                |    |--V. pacos (Linnaeus 1758) GC-BG04
                |    `--V. vicugna (Molina 1782) GC-BG04
                `--Lama FS15
                     |--L. glama (Linnaeus 1758) GC-BG04
                     |--L. guanicoe (Müller 1776) GC-BG04
                     `--L. pacos F84

Camelidae incertae sedis:
  Auchenia lama C77
  Alticamelus M66
  Protolabis Cope 1876 C77
    `--P. heterodontus C77
  Pliauchenia Cope 1875 C77
    |--P. humphresiana Cope 1875 C77
    `--P. vulcanorum Cope 1875 C77
  Procamelus Leidy 1858 C77
    |--P. angustidens C77
    |--P. coartatus D07
    |--P. fissidens Cope 1876 C77
    |--P. gazini D07
    |--P. gracilis Leidy 1858 C77
    |--P. grandis D07
    |--P. leptocolon D07
    |--P. occidentalis Leidy 1858 C77
    `--P. robustus C77
  Protomeryx Leidy 1856 (n. d.) M66
    `--P. halli M66
  Pseudolabis [Pseudolabidinae] M66
    `--P. dakotensis Matthew 1904 M66
  0--Rakomylus M66
  `--Stenomylus Peterson 1908 M66, D07
       |--S. crassipes D07
       |--S. gracilis D07
       |--S. hitchcocki D07
       `--S. keelinensis D07
  0--Gentilicamelus Loomis 1936 [=Gomphotherium Cope 1886 nec Burmeister 1837 nec Filhol 1884] M66
  |    `--*G. sternbergi (Cope 1879) (see below for synonymy) M66
  |--Paratylopus M66
  |    |--P. matthewi (Lull 1921) [=Paralabis matthewi] M66
  |    `--P. primaevus (Matthew 1904) M66
  `--+--Oxydactylus M66
     |    |  i. s.: *O. longipes Peterson 1904 M66
     |    |         O. brachyodontus M66
     |    |         O. exilis M66
     |    |         O. lagota M66
     |    |         O. wyomingensis (Loomis 1936) [=Gentilicamelus wyomingensis] M66
     |    |--O. cedrensis (Matthew 1901) P98, M66 (see below for synonymy)
     |    `--+--O. campestris M66
     |       `--+--O. cameloides (Wortman 1898) [=Paratylopus cameloides] M66
     |          `--O. wortmani (Lull 1921) [=Paratylopus wortmani] M66
     `--+--Miotylopus Schlaikjer 1935 M66
        |    |--*M. brachygnathus Schlaikjer 1935 M66 [=M. bathygnathus P98]
        |    |--M. gibbi (Loomis 1911) [=Oxydactylus gibbi] M66
        |    |--M. leonardi (Loomis 1911) [=Protomeryx leonardi, Gentilicamelus leonardi] P98
        |    `--M. taylori Prothero 1996 P98
        `--+--Nothokemas White 1947 [Nothokemadidae] M66
           |    `--N. floridanus (Simpson 1932) (see below for synonymy) M66
           `--Floridatragulus White 1940 [incl. Hypermekops White 1942] M66
                |--F. barbouri White 1947 M66
                `--F. dolichanthereus White 1940 [incl. Hypermekops olseni White 1942] M66
  Dyseotylopus Stock 1935 M66
    `--D. migrans Stock 1935 M66, P98

*Gentilicamelus sternbergi (Cope 1879) [=*Gomphotherium sternbergi, Miolabis (Paratylopus) sternbergi, Protomeryx sternbergi] M66

Nothokemas floridanus (Simpson 1932) [=Oxydactylus floridanus; incl. Paratylopus grandis White 1940] M66

Oxydactylus cedrensis (Matthew 1901) P98, M66 [=Protomeryx cedrensis M66; incl. P. campester Matthew 1901 non O. campestris M66]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[C77] Cope, E. D. 1877. Report upon the extinct Vertebrata obtained in New Mexico by parties of the expedition of 1874. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian 4 (2): i–iv, 1–370.

[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.

[FS15] Faurby, S., & J.-C. Svenning. 2015. A species-level phylogeny of all extant and late Quaternary extinct mammals using a novel heuristic-hierarchical Bayesian approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 14–26.

[F84] Franklin, W. L. 1984. Camels and llamas. In: Macdonald, D. (ed.) All the World’s Animals: Hoofed Mammals pp. 72–75. Torstar Books: New York.

[G78] Gentry, A. W. 1978. Tragulidae and Camelidae. In: Maglio, V. J., & H. B. S. Cooke (eds) Evolution of African Mammals pp. 536–539. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[GC-BG04] Gentry, A., J. Clutton-Brock & C. P. Groves. 2004. The naming of wild animal species and their domestic derivatives. Journal of Archaeological Science 31: 645–651.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[M66] McKenna, M. C. 1966. Synopsis of Whitneyan and Arikareean camelid phylogeny. American Museum Novitates 2253: 1–11.

[P98] Prothero, D. R. 1998. Bringing Fossils to Life: An introduction to paleobiology. WCB McGraw-Hill: Boston.