Tragulina (also known as Traguliformes) is an

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

even-toed ungulate Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla ( , ). Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes (the third and fourth, often in the form of a hoof). The other t ...

s. Only the

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

s survive to the present, including the

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

Tragulus ''Tragulus'' is a genus of even-toed ungulates in the family Tragulidae that are known as mouse-deer. In Ancient Greek τράγος (''tragos'') means a male goat, while the List of diminutives by language#Latin, Latin diminutive ''–ulus'' mea ...

'' (the mouse deer) and '' Hyemoschus'', all within the

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 ...

Tragulidae.

Taxonomy and classification

Tragulina is an

within the larger

suborder Order () 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 recognized ...

Ruminantia Ruminants are herbivorous grazing or browsing artiodactyls belonging to the suborder Ruminantia that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by Enteric fermentation, fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principa ...

, and is the

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

to the

Pecora Pecora is an Order (biology), infraorder of Artiodactyla, 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 ...

. Tragulina contains one

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern 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 * Exta ...

(living) family, Tragulidae, as well as several

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

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

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

. Tragulina's placement within

Artiodactyla Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order (biology), order Artiodactyla ( , ). Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes (the third and fourth, often in the form of a hoof ...

can be represented in the following

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

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

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

of the group Tragulina. *Infrarorder TRAGULINA **† Praetragulidae ***'' Praetragulus'' ***'' Parvitragulus'' ***'' Simimeryx'' **† Archaeomerycidae ***'' Archaeomeryx'' ***'' Miomeryx'' ***'' Paukkaungmeryx'' **† Gelocidae ***'' Phaneromeryx'' ***'' Paragelocus'' ***'' Paragelocus'' ***'' Gelocus'' ***'' Pseudogelocus'' ***'' Prodremotherium'' ***'' Cryptomeryx'' ***'' Pseudoceras'' ***'' Gobiomeryx'' ***'' Rutitherium'' ***'' Eumeryx'' **†

Hypertragulidae Hypertragulidae is an extinct family (biology), family of Paleogene ruminants endemic to North America from the Eocene until the Oligocene. The Hypertragulidae are Basal (phylogenetics), basal ruminants that resembled small deer or musk deer in ...

Vislobokova, I. A. (2001). Evolution and classification of Tragulina (Ruminantia, Artiodactyla). Paleontological Journal, 35(January 2001), S69–S145. ***'' Hypertragulus'' ***'' Nanotragulus'' *** Hypisodontinae ****'' Hypisodus'' **† Leptomerycidae ***'' Hendryomeryx'' ***'' Leptomeryx'' ***'' Xinjiangmeryx'' ***'' Pseudomeryx'' ***'' Pseudoparablastomeryx'' ***'' Pronodens'' **† Lophiomerycidae ***'' Zhailimeryx'' ***'' Lophiomeryx'' ***'' Krabimeryx'' **† Bachitheriidae ***'' Bachitherium'' ** Tragulidae – chevrotains or mouse-deer ***''

'' ***'' Hyemoschus'' ***'' Moschiola'' ***†'' Dorcatherium'' ***†'' Dorcabune'' ***†'' Afrotragulus'' ***†'' Siamotragulus'' ***†'' Yunnanotherium'' ***†'' Archaeotragulus'' ***†'' Iberomeryx'' ***†'' Nalameryx''

References

Ruminants Paraphyletic groups {{eventoedungulate-stub