''Acinonyx'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

within the

Felidae Felidae ( ) is the Family (biology), family of mammals in the Order (biology), order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant taxon, extant Felidae species exhibit the gre ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

. The only living

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of the genus, the

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large Felidae, cat and the Fastest animals, fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, wit ...

(''A. jubatus''), lives in open

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s of Africa and Asia. Several

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

remains of cheetah-like cats were excavated that date to the late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, more widely known as the Middle Pleistocene (its previous informal name), is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocen ...

. These cats occurred in Africa, parts of Europe and Asia about 10,000 years ago. Several similar species classified in the genus '' Miracinonyx'' lived in North America at the same time; these may have been more closely related to the genus '' Puma''.

Taxonomy

''Acinonyx'' was proposed by Joshua Brookes in 1828. Between the late 18th century and the early 20th century, the following ''Acinonyx'' species and

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

were described: * ''Felis jubatus'' by

Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber (17 January 1739 – 10 December 1810), often styled J.C.D. von Schreber, was a German Natural history, naturalist. Career Schreber was appointed professor of'' materia medica'' at the University of Erlangen- ...

in 1777 was based on earlier descriptions by

Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist. He held the position of ''intendant'' (director) at the ''Jardin du Roi'', now called the Jardin des plant ...

and

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (16 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall, near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales. As a naturalist he had ...

. ** ''Felis venatica'' by Griffith in 1821 was based on a sketch of a cheetah from India. ** ''Cynailurus soemmeringi'' by Fitzinger in 1855 was a live male cheetah brought by Theodor von Heuglin to Tiergarten Schönbrunn from Kordofan in southern Sudan. ** ''Acinonyx hecki'' by Hilzheimer in 1913 was a captive cheetah from Senegal in the

Berlin Zoological Garden The Berlin Zoological Garden (, ) is the oldest surviving and best-known zoo in Germany. Opened in 1844, it covers and is located in Berlin's Tiergarten (park), Tiergarten. With about 1,380 different species and over 20,200 animals, the zoo pre ...

, named in honour of the zoo's director. In 1993, ''Acinonyx'' was placed in the

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

subfamily Acinonychinae. Molecular phylogenetic analysis has shown that it is the

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

of the genus ''Puma'', and it is now placed within the subfamily

Felinae The small cats or Felinae are a subfamily of Felidae distinguished by their bony hyoids, which let them purr but not roar. Other authors have proposed an alternative definition for this subfamily, as comprising only the living conical-toothed cat ...

. In addition, the following

''Acinonyx'' species were described: * '' Acinonyx pardinensis'' by Croizet et Jobert in 1828 * '' Acinonyx arvernensis'' by Croizet et Jobert in 1828 * '' Acinonyx intermedius'' by Thenius in 1954 * '' Acinonyx aicha'' by Geraads in 1997 * '' Acinonyx pleistocaenicus'' by Zdansky in 1925 The "Linxia Cheetah" ( "''A. kurteni''") was initially described by Christiansen and Mazák in 2009 on the basis of a skull from Pliocene strata in China, and touted as the most primitive member of the genus. In 2012, "''A. kurteni''" was invalidated as a species when the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

was determined to be a forgery composed of Miocene-aged fragments.

References

{{Authority control Carnivoran genera Mammal genera with one living species Extant Pliocene first appearances Taxa named by Joshua Brookes Felines

Taxonomy

See also

References