Tragulina (also known as Traguliformes) is an

infraorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

even-toed ungulate The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing poster ...

s. Only the

chevrotain Chevrotains, or mouse-deer, are small even-toed ungulates that make up the family Tragulidae, the only extant members of the infraorder Tragulina. The 10 extant species are placed in three genera, but several species also are known only f ...

s survive to the present, including the

genera 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 nomenclat ...

'' Tragulus'' (the mouse deer) and ''

Hyemoschus The water chevrotain (''Hyemoschus aquaticus''), also known as the fanged deer, is a small ruminant found in tropical Africa. This is the only species in the genus ''Hyemoschus''. It is the largest of the 10 species of chevrotains, basal even ...

'', all within the

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 ...

Tragulidae The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often v ...

Taxonomy and Classification

Tragulina is an

within the larger

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Ruminantia Ruminants (suborder Ruminantia) are hoofed herbivorous grazing or browsing mammals that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions. The ...

, and is the sister

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...

to the

Pecora Pecora is an infraorder of even-toed hoofed mammals with ruminant digestion. Most members of Pecora have cranial appendages projecting from their frontal bones; only two extant genera lack them, ''Hydropotes'' and '' Moschus''. The name “P ...

. Tragulina contains one

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

(living) family,

, as well as several

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

families, although the extinct members currently classified as within Tragulina causes it to be considered

paraphyletic In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In ...

. Tragulina's placement within

Artiodactyla The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing poster ...

can be represented in the following

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

:(see e.g. Fig S10) The following is the

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

of the group Tragulina. *Infrarorder TRAGULINA **† Praetragulidae ***'' Praetragulus'' ***''

Parvitragulus ''Parvitragulus'' is an extinct monospecific genus of hypertragulid ruminant endemic to North America. It lived during the Late Eocene, 38–33.9 Ma, existing for approximately . 'Parvitragulus'' at fossilworks/ref> Fossils have been found in ...

'' ***'' Simimeryx'' **† Archaeomerycidae ***'' Archaeomeryx'' ***'' Miomeryx'' ***'' Paukkaungmeryx'' **†

Gelocidae The Gelocidae are an extinct group of hornless ruminantia that are estimated to have lived during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs, from 36 MYA to 6 MYA. The family generally includes extinct hornless ruminants which do not belong to similar fa ...

***'' Phaneromeryx'' ***'' Paragelocus'' ***'' Paragelocus'' ***'' Gelocus'' ***'' Pseudogelocus'' ***'' Prodremotherium'' ***'' Cryptomeryx'' ***'' Pseudoceras'' ***'' Gobiomeryx'' ***'' Rutitherium'' ***'' Eumeryx'' **† Hypertragulidae ***'' Hypertragulus'' ***''

Nanotragulus ''Nanotragulus'' is an extinct genus of hypertragulid ruminant found in North America, Europe, and Asia. It lived from the Middle Eocene to the Early Miocene, living 46.2–20.4 Ma, existing for approximately . Fossils have been found from Ore ...

'' *** Hypisodontinae ****''

Hypisodus ''Hypisodus'' is an extinct genus belonging to the family Hypertragulidae, within the order Artiodactyla, endemic to North America during the Eocene through Oligocene, living 37.2–26.3 Ma, existing for approximately . ''Hypisodus'' were pri ...

'' **† Leptomerycidae ***'' Hendryomeryx'' ***'' Leptomeryx'' ***'' Xinjiangmeryx'' ***'' Pseudomeryx'' ***'' Pseudoparablastomeryx'' ***'' Pronodens'' **† Lophiomerycidae ***'' Zhailimeryx'' ***'' Iberomeryx'' ***'' Lophiomeryx'' ***'' Nalameryx'' ***'' Krabimeryx'' ***''undescrsibed'' **

– chevrotains or mouse-deer ***'' Tragulus'' ***''

'' ***'' Moschiola'' ***†'' Stenomeryx'' **† Protoceratidae ***'' Heteromeryx'' ***'' Leptoreodon'' ***'' Leptotragulus'' ***'' Poabromylus'' ***''

Toromeryx ''Toromeryx'' is a medium-sized extinct genus of Artiodactyla, of the family Protoceratidae, endemic to southwestern North America from the Eocene epoch (Late Uintan stage) 46.2—42 Ma, existing for approximately . Taxonomy ''Toromeryx'' was n ...

'' ***'' Trigenicus'' ***'' Paratoceras'' ***''

Protoceras ''Protoceras'' ('first horns') is an extinct genus of Artiodactyla, of the family Protoceratidae, endemic to North America. It lived from the Oligocene to the Early Miocene 33.3—16.0 Ma, existing for approximately . Morphology ''Protoceras ...

'' ***''

Pseudoprotoceras ''Pseudoprotoceras'' is an extinct genus of Artiodactyla, of the family Protoceratidae, endemic to central North America. It lived during the Late Eocene 37.2—33.9 Ma, existing for approximately . ''Pseudoprotoceras'' resembled hornlessEmry, R ...

'' ***'' Kyptoceras'' ***'' Lambdoceras'' ***''

Prosynthetoceras ''Prosynthetoceras'' is an extinct genus of Artiodactyla, of the family Protoceratidae, endemic to North America. It lived from the Early to Middle Miocene 20.6—13.6 Ma, existing for approximately . In appearance, ''Prosynthetoceras'' looke ...

'' ***'' Synthetoceras'' ***'' Syndyoceras''

References

Ruminants Paraphyletic groups {{eventoedungulate-stub