Arctotherium

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Arctotherium Fossil range: Late Pliocene–Pleistocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Superfamily:	Arctoidea
Family:	Ursidae
Subfamily:	Tremarctinae
Tribe:	Tremarctini
Genus:	†Arctotherium Burmeister, 1879
Species
†A. angustidens †A. bonariense †A. brasilense †A. latidens †A. tarijense †A. vetustum †A. wingei

Arctotherium is an extinct genus of South American short-faced bears within Ursidae of the late Pliocene through the end of the Pleistocene.^[1] They were endemic to South America living from ~2.0–0.01 Ma, existing for approximately 1.99 million years. Their closest relatives were the North American short-faced bears of genus Arctodus (A. pristinus and A. simus). The closest living relative would be the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus).^[2]

1 Taxonomy
2 Morphology
3 References
4 See also

Taxonomy

Arctotherium was named by Burmeister (1879). It was assigned to Tremarctinae by Krause et al. 2008.^[2]

Morphology

References

^ Soibelzon, L. H.; Tonni, E. P.; Bond, M. (October 2005). "The fossil record of South American short-faced bears (Ursidae, Tremarctinae)". Journal of South American Earth Sciences 20 (1-2): 105–113. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2005.07.005.
^ ^a ^b Krause, J.; Unger, T.; Noçon, A.; Malaspinas, A.; Kolokotronis, S.; Stiller, M.; Soibelzon, L.; Spriggs, H.; Dear, P. H.; Briggs, A. W.; Bray, S. C. E.; O'Brien, S. J.; Rabeder, G.; Matheus, P.; Cooper, A.; Slatkin, M.; Pääbo, S.; Hofreiter, M. (2008-07-28). "Mitochondrial genomes reveal an explosive radiation of extinct and extant bears near the Miocene-Pliocene boundary". BMC Evolutionary Biology 8 (220). doi:10.1186/1471-2148-8-220.

Arctotherium

Contents

Taxonomy

Morphology

References

See also