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Pecora Fossil range: 20–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Early Miocene - Recent
Pronghorn
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Suborder: Ruminantia Infraorder: Pecora Flower, 1883
Families
Moschidae  Cervidae  Giraffidae  Antilocapridae  Bovidae

The Pecora is a group of hoofed mammals that comprises most of the ruminants, including cattle, sheep, goats, antelopes, deer, giraffes, and pronghorn. The only extant members of the Ruminantia that are not pecorans are the chevrotains, which lack horns and whose four-chambered stomach is less developed than those of the pecorans. This gives rise to the pecorans sometimes being called "horned ruminants". Pecorans are also known as "higher ruminants", because they arose more recently than other ruminant groups. Although Pecora is a well-supported clade, the exact relationships among families within it are in dispute.

Classification

• ORDER Artiodactyla
  • Suborder Suina
  • Suborder Tylopoda
  • Suborder Ruminantia
    • Infraorder Tragulina
      • Family Tragulidae: chevrotains
    • Infraorder Pecora
      • Family Giraffidae: giraffe and okapi
      • Family Bovidae: cattle, goats, sheep, and antelope
      • Family Moschidae: musk deer
      • Family Antilocapridae: pronghorn
      • Family Cervidae: deer

References

Flower, W.H. (1883). "On the arrangement of the orders and families of existing Mammalia". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1883: 178–186. 

Hassanin, Alexandre, & Douzery, Emmanuel J. P. (2003). "Molecular and morphological phylogenies of Ruminantia and the alternative position of the Moschidae". Systematic Biology 52 (2): 206–228. doi:10.1080/10635150390192726. 

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• This page was last modified on 7 January 2009, at 16:23.

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