Ungulate taxonomy revisited: the evidence for the splits of G&G

birdsandbats said:
I recently obtained a book on North American mammal taxonomy from 1902. The list of North American mammal species they list is very different compared to today's list - a lot's been lumped since then! This book recognizes no less than 34 ungulate species in North America (which includes what is now the US, Canada and Greenland) - many of these with multiple subspecies! Here's the list, I thought it would be interesting to show how ungulate taxonomy has changed over the last 120 years:

Texas Peccary Tayassu angulatum

American Elk Cervus canadensis
Roosevelt's Elk Cervus occidentalis
Merriam's Elk Cervus merriami

Virginia Deer Odocoileus virginianus
Florida Deer Odocoileus osceola
Texan or Fan-tailed Deer Odocoileus texensis
Arizona Deer Odocoileus couesi
White-tailed Deer Odocoileus leucurus

Mule Deer Odocoileus hemionus
Cerros Island Deer Odocoileus cerrosensis
Crook's Deer Odocoileus crooki
Columbian Black-tailed Deer Odocoileus columbianus

Moose Alces americanus
Alaskan Moose Alces gigas

Woodland Caribou Rangifer caribou
Mountain Caribou Rangifer montanus
Stone's Caribou Rangifer stonei
Newfoundland Caribou Rangifer terrae-novae
Barren Ground Caribou Rangifer arcticus
Greenland Caribou Rangifer graenlandicus
Grant's Caribou Rangifer granti

Pronghorn Antilocapra americana

Mountain Goat Oreamnos montanus
Kennedy's Mountain Goat Oreamnos kennedyi

Mountain Sheep Ovis cervina
Nelson's Sheep Ovis nelsoni
Mexican Sheep Ovis mexicanus

Stone's Sheep Ovis stonei
Dall's Sheep Ovis dalli
Fannin's Sheep Ovis fannini

Musk Ox Ovibos moschatus
Peary's Musk Ox Ovibos wardi

American Buffalo Bison bison

One of the stranger things that stood out to me is that they can split 7 species just in North American, yet recognize no Pronghorn subspecies :confused:.
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Wow! Thank you for sharing this with us. Taxonomy really has changed. For example, the Rocky mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) is considered a monotypic species. There was a paper on the taxonomy of Rocky mountain goats written in the 1960s. Dr. James Dolan, the former General Curator of the Zoological Society of San Diego was one of the co-authors, and he said that though the conclusion is that Oreamnos americanus turned out to be monotypic, if any subspecies were to be valid/distinct ssp. kennedyi would be the one that warrants distinction. If I come across the paper again, I'll post it here.

Another example for Bighorn sheep, ssp. mexicanus and ssp. nelsoni are now considered synonymous.

For the reindeer, I don't believe ssp. arcticus is still valid, and ssp. terrae-novae is now considered synonymous with ssp. caribou
 
Dassie rat said:
It could be this one: American animals; a popular guide to the mammals of North America north of Mexico, with intimate biographies of the more familiar species : Stone, Witmer, 1866-1939 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
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birdsandbats said:
I believe that's the one. The cover is so worn-out it's impossible to read, and there are two different title pages with different titles that do not list the author.
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Thanks both of you
 
The book classifies ungulates as follows:
PECCARIES (Family Dicotylida): Texas Peccary (Tayassu angulatum, Cope)
DEER AND THEIR ALLIES (Family Cervida): American Elk (Cervus canadensis, Erxleben).
Virginia Deer (Odocoileus virginianus, Boddaert). Mule Deer (O. hemionus, Rafinesque).
Columbian Black-tailed Deer (O. columbianus, Richardson). Moose (Alces americanus, Jardine).
Woodland Caribou (Rangifer caribou, Gmelin). Barren Ground Caribou (R arcticus, Richardson).
PRONG-HORNS (Family Antilocaprida): American Prong-Horn (Antilocapra americana, Ord).
THE CATTLE (Family Bovida): Mountain Goat (Oreamnos montantis, Ord).
Mountain Sheep (Ovis cervina, Desmarest). Musk Ox (Ovibos moschatus, Zimmerman).
American Buffalo (Bison bison, Linnaeus)
 
Guanaco

The Guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is a camelid native to South America and is widely distributed in Argentina, S and NE Chile, S Bolivia and Peru. Up to four subspecies have been recognized, but based on morphological and genetic data only two should be recognized:

L.g. guanicoe Chile, Argentina, Bolivia
L.g. cacsilensis Peru

"Which of the two subspecies are seen in zoos?"
 
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