| Turcocerus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Genus: | † Turcocerus Köhler, 1988 |
Turcocerus is an extinct genus of caprine bovid that lived in Eurasia during the Neogene period.
T. gracilis is known from Turkey. [1] [2] T. halamagaiensis inhabited the Junggar Basin of China. [3]
The giant panda, also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is rotund; adult individuals weigh 100 to 115 kg and are typically 1.2 to 1.9 m long. It is sexually dimorphic, with males being typically 10 to 20% larger than females. A thumb is visible on its forepaw, which helps in holding bamboo in place for feeding. It has large molar teeth and expanded temporal fossa to meet its dietary requirements. It can digest starch and is mostly herbivorous with a diet consisting almost entirely of bamboo and bamboo shoots.
Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla. Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two of their five toes. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. By contrast, most perissodactyls bear weight on an odd number of the five toes. Another difference between the two orders is that many artiodactyls digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine. Molecular biology, along with new fossil discoveries, has found that cetaceans fall within this taxonomic branch, being most closely related to hippopotamuses. Some modern taxonomists thus apply the name Cetartiodactyla to this group, while others opt to include cetaceans within the existing name of Artiodactyla. Some researchers use "even-toed ungulates" to exclude cetaceans and only include terrestrial artiodactyls, making the term paraphyletic in nature.
The subfamily Caprinae, also sometimes referred to as the tribe Caprini, is part of the ruminant family Bovidae, and consists of mostly medium-sized bovids. A member of this subfamily is called a caprine.
The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, yaks, bison, buffalo, antelopes, sheep and goats. A member of this family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species, the family Bovidae consists of 11 major subfamilies and thirteen major tribes. The family evolved 20 million years ago, in the early Miocene.
Ruminants are herbivorous grazing or browsing artiodactyls belonging to the suborder Ruminantia that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions. The process, which takes place in the front part of the digestive system and therefore is called foregut fermentation, typically requires the fermented ingesta to be regurgitated and chewed again. The process of rechewing the cud to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion is called rumination. The word "ruminant" comes from the Latin ruminare, which means "to chew over again".
A Fossil-Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues. These formations may have resulted from carcass burial in an anoxic environment with minimal bacteria, thus delaying the decomposition of both gross and fine biological features until long after a durable impression was created in the surrounding matrix. Fossil-Lagerstätten span geological time from the Neoproterozoic era to the present.
A horn is a permanent pointed projection on the head of various animals that consists of a covering of keratin and other proteins surrounding a core of live bone. Horns are distinct from antlers, which are not permanent. In mammals, true horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae (pronghorn) and Bovidae. Cattle horns arise from subcutaneous connective tissue and later fuse to the underlying frontal bone.
The rumen, also known as a paunch, is the largest stomach compartment in ruminants and the larger part of the reticulorumen, which is the first chamber in the alimentary canal of ruminant animals. The rumen's microbial favoring environment allows it to serve as the primary site for microbial fermentation of ingested feed. The smaller part of the reticulorumen is the reticulum, which is fully continuous with the rumen, but differs from it with regard to the texture of its lining. It covers approximately 80% of total ruminant stomach portion
The Antilocapridae are a family of ruminant artiodactyls endemic to North America. Their closest extant relatives are the giraffids. Only one species, the pronghorn, is living today; all other members of the family are extinct. The living pronghorn is a small ruminant mammal resembling an antelope.
Gomphotherium is an extinct genus of gomphothere proboscidean from the Neogene of Eurasia, Africa and North America. It is the most diverse genus of gompothere, with over a dozen valid species. The genus is probably paraphyletic.
Bison latifrons, also known as the giant bison or long-horned bison, is an extinct species of bison that lived in North America during the Late Pleistocene epoch ranging from southern Canada to Mexico. It is noted for large body size and its distinctive long horns.
The wild water buffalo, also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo and wild buffalo, is a large bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List since 1986, as the remaining population totals less than 4,000. A population decline of at least 50% over the last three generations is projected to continue. The global population has been estimated at 3,400 individuals, of which 95% live in India, mostly in Assam. The wild water buffalo is the most likely ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.
The Palaeomerycidae is an extinct family of Neogene ruminants belonging to the infraorder Pecora. Palaeomerycids lived in Europe and Asia exclusively during the Miocene, coevolving with cervids, bovids, moschids, and tragulids there as part of a dramatic radiation of ruminants by the early Miocene.
Hyraxes, also called dassies, are small, stout, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Modern hyraxes are typically between 30 and 70 cm in length and weigh between 2 and 5 kg. They are superficially similar to marmots, or over-large pikas, but are much more closely related to elephants and sea cows. Hyraxes have a life span from 9 to 14 years. Both types of "rock" hyrax live on rock outcrops, including cliffs in Ethiopia and isolated granite outcrops called koppies in southern Africa.
Listeria ivanovii is a species of bacteria in the genus Listeria. The listeria are rod-shaped bacteria, do not produce spores, and become positively stained when subjected to Gram staining. Of the six bacteria species within the genus, L. ivanovii is one of the two pathogenic species. In 1955 Bulgaria, the first known isolation of this species was found from sheep. It behaves like L. monocytogenes, but is found almost exclusively in ruminants. The species is named in honor of Bulgarian microbiologist Ivan Ivanov. This species is facultatively anaerobic, which makes it possible for it to go through fermentation when there is oxygen depletion.
Rusingoryx is a genus of extinct alcelaphine bovid artiodactyl closely related to the wildebeest. It contains only one species, R. atopocranion, that lived on the plains of Kenya during the Pleistocene. It was originally named as a species of Megalotragus.
Tethytragus was a genus of caprine bovid that lived in the Middle and Late Miocene.
Palaeoreas was a genus of Miocene bovid from Europe.
Qurliqnoria is an extinct genus of caprine bovid that inhabited Eurasia during the Neogene period.
Tossunnoria is an extinct genus of caprine bovid from the Miocene epoch.
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