About bisons. Taxonomy and phylogeny

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TAXONOMY AND PHYLOGENY Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus was first scientist who classified the bison in 1758 for his 10th Edition of the Systema Naturae. He assigned the animal to Bos, the same genus as domestic cattle, and appropriated their names to binominal nomenclature: Bos bonasus — European wisent; Bos bison — American bison. Linnaeus' classification was repeatedly reconsidered and supplemented. In 1827 C. Hamilton Smith assigned bisons to the subgenus Bison. In 1849, Charles Knight elevated the subgenus Bison to the level of genus. The genus Bison currently reside in the tribe Bovini, sub-family Bovinae, family Bovidae, sub-order Ruminantia, order Artiodactyla, class Mammalia, phylum Chordata, kingdom Animalia. Except for bison the tribe Bovini contains three more genera: Asian water buffalo (Bubalus); African buffalo (Syncerus) and domestic cattle with their wild relatives (Bos). The nomenclature and classification of Bovini has been discussed controversially for many years and was inconsistent between authors. United system still not confirmed on today. Lines of bulls and buffalo are traced by morphological attributes and by results of genom dactyloscopy. There are offers to unite bisons with real bulls Bos though reproduction divergence Bos and Bison is rather essential. The yak (Phoephagus) borrows intermediate position between Bos and Bison, but on genetic parameters is nearer to bisons. Isolation of buffalo from bulls does not cause doubts. Most likely they were separated from the general branch of sub-family earlier of other Pleistocene age genus. Phylogenetic attitudes of forms in the tribe Bovini

Раутиан Г. С., Агаджанян А. К., Мироненко И. В. Дифференциация трибы быков и буйволов (Bovini) по морфологическим и генетическим признакам // Палеонтологический журнал. 2000, № 5. с. 95-104.

Postage stamps: USSR (1958.01.08, Mi 2048) - C. Linnaeus. The outstanding Swedish scientist and the naturalist Lebanon (1968.01, Mi 1022) - Domestic cattle (Bos primigenius taurus) Botswana (2015.07.22, Mi 1014A) - African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) Vietnam (1984.12, Mi 1529) - Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) Indonesia (1959.06.01, Mi 238) - Anoa (Bubalus depressicornis) India (1963.10.07, Mi 358) - Gaur (Bos gaurus) France (2009.06.22, Mi 4374) - Aurochs (Bos primigenius) Bhutan (1962.10.10, Mi 7) - Wild yak (Bos mutus) Russia (2007.10.01, Mi 1436) - Wisent (Bison bonasus)

Данилкин А. А. Полорогие (Bovidae).М.: Т-во научных изданий КМК, 2005. Gates, C. C., Freese, C. H., Gogan, P. J. P. and Kotzman, M. (eds. and comps.) (2010). American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Knight, Charles. Sketches in natural history. History of the Mammalia. 1849. London, C. Cox, vols. 5 and 6, p. 402. [Early use of Bison as a full genus. This book has no definite author indicated; from British Museum Catalogue ("forming part of a series entitled Knight's Monthly Volume.")]. Smith, Charles Hamilton. 1827. Supplement to the order Ruminantia. In Cuvier, Georges, The animal Ikingdom, with additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. London, George B. Whittaker, vol. 4, p. 398.