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Concept
Ungulate
Summary
Ungulates (ˈʌŋɡjʊleɪts,-ɡjə-,-lɪts,_-ləts ) are members of the diverse clade Euungulata ("true ungulates") which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined to be a polyphyletic and thereby invalid clade based on molecular data. As a result, true ungulates had since been reclassified to the newer clade Euungulata in 2001 within the clade Laurasiatheria while Paenungulata has been reclassified to a distant clade Afrotheria. Living ungulates are divided into two orders: the odd-toed ungulates (Perissodactyla) including horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla) such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, camels, sheep, deer, and hippopotamuses. Cetaceans such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises are also classified as even-toed ungulates, although they do not have hooves. Most terrestrial ungulates use the hoofed tips of their toes to support their body weight while standing or moving. Two other orders of ungulates, Notoungulata and Litopterna, both native to South America, became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, around 12,000 years ago.
The term means, roughly, "being hoofed" or "hoofed animal". As a descriptive term, "ungulate" normally excludes cetaceans as they do not possess most of the typical morphological characteristics of other ungulates, but recent discoveries indicate that they were also descended from early artiodactyls. Ungulates are typically herbivorous and many employ specialized gut bacteria to allow them to digest cellulose, though some members may deviate from this: several species of pigs and the extinct entelodonts are omnivorous, while cetaceans and the extinct mesonychians are carnivorous.
Ungulate is from the Late Latin adjective ungulatus, "hoofed". Ungulatus is a diminutive form of Latin unguis, "nail" (finger nail; toe nail).
Eungulata is a clade (or in some taxonomies, a grand order) of mammals. The two extant orders of ungulates are the Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates) and Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates).
Official source
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