Tapirus is a genus of tapir which contains the living tapir species. The Malayan tapir is usually included in Tapirus as well, although some authorities have moved it into its own genus, Acrocodia.[2]
The genus Tapirus first appeared during the Middle Miocene (around 16-10 million years ago), known fossils in both Europe (T. telleri) and North America (T. johnsoni and T. polkensis).[6] The youngest tapir in Europe, Tapirus arvernensis became extinct at the end of the Pliocene, around 2.6 million years ago.[7]Tapirus dispersed into South America during the Early Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange, around 2.6-1 million years ago.[8]
Tapirs suffered considerable extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene, and went completely extinct north of southern Mexico.
^Ruiz-García, Manuel; Castellanos, Armando; Bernal, Luz Agueda; Pinedo-Castro, Myreya; Kaston, Franz; Shostell, Joseph M. (2016-03-01). "Mitogenomics of the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque, Tapiridae, Perissodactyla, Mammalia) in Colombia and Ecuador: Phylogeography and insights into the origin and systematics of the South American tapirs". Mammalian Biology. 81 (2): 163–175. Bibcode:2016MamBi..81..163R. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2015.11.001. ISSN1616-5047.
^Holanda, Elizete Celestino; Ferrero, Brenda Soledad (March 2013). "Reappraisal of the Genus Tapirus (Perissodactyla, Tapiridae): Systematics and Phylogenetic Affinities of the South American Tapirs". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 20 (1): 33–44. doi:10.1007/s10914-012-9196-z. hdl:11336/18792. S2CID15780542.
^Holanda, E.C.; Ferrero, B.S. (2012). "Reappraisal of the Genus Tapirus (Perissodactyla, Tapiridae): Systematics and Phylogenetic Affinities of the South American Tapirs". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 20: 33–44. doi:10.1007/s10914-012-9196-z. hdl:11336/18792. S2CID254697945.