''Blancocamelus'' is an extinct

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 n ...

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthp ...

s 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 ...

Camelidae Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae, the only currently living family in the suborder Tylopoda. The seven extant members of this group are: dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, wild Bactrian camels, llamas, alpacas, vicu� ...

, endemic to North America during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

—4.9 million years ago until 300,000 years ago, existing for about 4.6 million years.

Taxonomy

''Blancocamelus'' was named by Dalquest (1975). Its type species is ''Blancocamelus meadei''. It was assigned to the Camelidae by Dalquest (1975) and Carroll (1988).R. L. Carroll. 1988. ''Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution''. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698

References

Prehistoric camelids Prehistoric even-toed ungulate genera Pliocene even-toed ungulates Pleistocene even-toed ungulates Extant Pliocene first appearances Pleistocene genus extinctions Prehistoric mammals of North America {{paleo-eventoedungulate-stub