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Arctoidea

(Infraorder)

Overview

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Arctoidea is a superfamily of extinct and extant mostly carnivorous mammals which include the extinct group Hemicyonidae (dog-bears), and extant groups Musteloidea (weasels), Nothocyon, Pinnipedia (seals, sea lions), and Ursidae (bears), found in all continents from the Eocene, 46 Ma ago, to the present, approximately 46 million years..1]

Taxonomy

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Arctoidea was named by Flower (1869). It was reranked as the unranked clade Arctoidea by Hunt (2001), Hunt (2002) and Hunt (2002); it was reranked as the infraorder Arctoidea by Koretsky (2001), Zhai et al. (2003) and Labs Hochstein (2007). It was assigned to Carnivora by Flower (1883), Barnes (1987), Barnes (1988), Carroll (1988), Barnes (1989), Barnes (1992), Hunt (2001), Hunt (2002) and Hunt (2002); and to Caniformia by Tedford (1976), Bryant (1991), Wang and Tedford (1992), Tedford et al. (19 94), Koretsky (2001), Zhai et al. (2003), Wang et al. (2005), Owen (2006), Peign? et al. (2006) and Labs Hochstein (2007).[2][3][4]

Family tree

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The cladogram of Arctoidea is as follows:[citation needed]

t al. (2005), Owen (2006), Peign? et al. (2006) and Labs Hochstein (2007).[2][3][4]

Family tree

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The cladogram of Arctoidea is as follows:[cit ation needed]

References

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  1. ^ Paleobiology Database: Arctoidea Basic info.
  2. ^ R. M. Hunt. 2001. Small Oligocene amphicyonids from North America (Paradaphoenus, Mammalia, Carnivora). American Museum Novitates 3331:1-20
  3. ^ I. Koretsky. 2001. Morphology and systematics of Miocene Phocinae (Mammalia: Carnivora) from Paratethys and the North Atlantic region. Geologica Hungarica Series Palaeontologica 54:1-109
  4. ^ J. Labs Hochstein. 2007. A new species of Zodiolestes (Mammalia, Mustelidae) from the early Miocene of Florida. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(2):532-534

Taxonomy

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The Infraorder Arctoidea is a member of the Suborder Caniformia. Here is the complete "parentage" of Arctoidea:

The Infraorder Arctoidea is further organized into finer groupings including:

Families

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Amphicyonidae

Amphicyonidae is an extinct family of large terrestrial carnivores belonging to the suborder Caniformia (meaning "dog-like") and which inhabited North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa from the Middle Eocene subepoch to the Pleistocene epoch 46.2?1.8 Mya, existing for approximately 44.4 million years. [more]

Hemicyonidae

[more]

Mephitidae

Skunks (in the United States, occasionally called polecats) are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks, together with their closest living relatives, the stink badgers, belong to the "skunk family", the "Mephitidae" and to the order Carnivora. There are twelve species of Mephistids, which are divided into four genera: Mephitis, the (hooded and striped skunks, two species), Spilogale the (spotted skunks, four species), the Mydaus or stink badgers, two species), and Conepatus, the (hog-nosed skunks, four species). The two stink badgers in the Mydaus genus inhabit Indonesia and the Philippines; while all skunks inhabit the Americas from Canada to central South America. All other known Mephistids are extinct and known only through fossils, many in Eurasia[]. [more]

Mustelidae

Mustelidae (from Latin mustela, weasel), commonly referred to as the weasel family, are a family of carnivorous mammals. Mustelids are diverse and the largest family in the order Carnivora, at least partly because in the past it has been a catch-all category for many early or poorly differentiated taxa.[] The internal classification seems to be still quite unsettled, with rival proposals containing between two and eight subfamilies. One study published in 2008 questions the long-accepted Mustelinae subfamily, and suggests Mustelidae consists of four major clades and three much smaller lineages. [more]

Otariidae

The eared seals or otariids are marine mammals in the family Otariidae, one of three groupings of Pinnipeds. They comprise 16 species in seven genera commonly known either as sea lions or fur seals, distinct from true seals (phocids) and the Walrus (odobenids). Otariids are adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle, feeding and migrating in the water but breeding and resting on land or ice. They reside in subpolar, temperate, and equatorial waters throughout the Pacific and Southern oceans and the southern Indian and Atlantic oceans. They are conspicuously absent in the north Atlantic. [more]

Phocidae

The true seals or earless seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal superfamily, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae (). They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae. Seals live in the oceans of both hemispheres and are mostly confined to polar, subpolar, and temperate climates, with the exception of the more tropical monk seals. [more]

Procyonidae

Procyonidae is a New World family of the order Carnivora. It includes the raccoons, coatis, kinkajous, olingos, ringtails and cacomistles. Procyonids inhabit a wide range of environments, and are generally omnivorous. [more]

Ursidae

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found in the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. [more]

At least 145 species and subspecies belong to the Family Ursidae.

More info about the Family Ursidae may be found here.

References

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  1. ^ Paleobiology Database: Arctoidea Basic info.
  2. ^ R. M. Hunt. 2001. Small Oligocene amphicyonids from North America (Paradaphoenus, Mammalia, Carnivora). American Museum Novitates 3331:1-20
  3. ^ I. Koretsky. 2001. Morphology and systematics of Miocene Phocinae (Mammalia: Carnivora) from Paratethys and the North Atlantic region. Geologica Hungarica Series Palaeontologica 54:1-109
  4. ^ J. Labs Hochstein. 2007. A new species of Zodiolestes (Mammalia, Mustelidae) from the early Miocene of Florida. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(2):532-534

Sources

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Last Revised: August 24, 2012
2012/08/24 13:18:50