''Acinonyx'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

within the

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

. The only living

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

of the genus, the

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

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

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

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 preserved ...

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

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. Th ...

. These cats occurred in Africa, parts of Europe and Asia about 10,000 years ago. Several similar species, classified in the genus ''

Miracinonyx The American cheetah is either of two feline species of the extinct genus ''Miracinonyx'', endemic to North America during the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 12,000 years ago) and morphologically similar to the modern cheetah (''Acinonyx jub ...

'', 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 biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...

were described: * ''Felis jubatus'' by

Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber (17 January 1739 in Weißensee, Thuringia – 10 December 1810 in Erlangen), often styled J.C.D. von Schreber, was a German naturalist. Career He was appointed professor of'' materia medica'' at the Univer ...

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, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent F ...

and

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (14 June OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh 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 Martin Theodor von Heuglin (20 March 1824, Hirschlanden, Württemberg5 November 1876), was a German explorer and ornithologist. Biography Heuglin was born in Hirschlanden (now part of Ditzingen) in Württemberg. His father was a Protestant pas ...

Tiergarten Schönbrunn Tiergarten (German for "zoo") may refer to: * Tiergarten (park) The Tiergarten ( en, Animal Garden; formal German name: ( en, Greater Animal Garden)) is Berlin’s most popular inner-city park, located completely in the district of the same ...

from

Kordofan Kordofan ( ar, كردفان ') is a former province of central Sudan. In 1994 it was divided into three new federal states: North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan. In August 2005, West Kordofan State was abolished and its territory ...

in southern Sudan. ** ''Acinonyx hecki'' by Hilzheimer in 1913 was a captive cheetah from Senegal in the

Berlin Zoological Garden The Berlin Zoological Garden (german: link=no, Zoologischer Garten Berlin) is the oldest surviving and best-known zoo in Germany. Opened in 1844, it covers and is located in Berlin's Tiergarten. With about 1,380 different species and over 20,2 ...

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

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...

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 Felinae are a subfamily of the family Felidae. This subfamily comprises the small cats having a bony hyoid, because of which they are able to purr but not roar. Other authors have proposed an alternative definition for this subfamily: a ...

. In addition, the following

''Acinonyx'' species were described: * '' A. pardinensis'' the giant cheetah — by Croizet et Jobert in 1828 * ''A. intermedius'' — by Thenius in 1954 * ''A. aicha'' — by Geraads in 1997 * "''A. kurteni''" — by Christiansen and Mazák in 2009 The "Linxia Cheetah" was initially described 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 is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

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

References

External links

* * * Mammal genera Mammal genera with one living species Extant Pliocene first appearances Taxa named by Joshua Brookes Felines {{feline-stub

Taxonomy

See also

References

External links