Tapiroidea

This article is about the superfamily Tapiroidea. For the family of tapiroids, see Tapir.

Tapiroidea
Temporal range: 55.4–0 Ma Early Eocene to Recent
Brazilian tapir
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Suborder: Ceratomorpha
Superfamily: Tapiroidea
Gill, 1872
Families

See text

Tapiroidea is a superfamily of perissodactyls which includes the modern tapirs and their extinct relatives. Taxonomically, they are placed in suborder Ceratomorpha along with the rhino superfamily, Rhinocerotoidea.The first members of Tapiroidea appeared during the Early Eocene, 55 million years ago, and were present in North America and Asia during the Eocene. Tapiridae first appeared during the early Oligocene in Europe, and are thought to have originated from the tapiroid family Helaletidae.[1][2]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Scherler, Laureline; Becker, Damien; Berger, Jean-Pierre (2011-03-17). "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.