Vicugna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Vicugna | |
|---|---|
| Vicuña | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Camelidae |
| Tribe: | Lamini |
| Genus: | Vicugna |
| Species | |
Vicugna is a genus containing two South American camelids, the vicuña and the alpaca.
Previously thought to be descended from the llama, the alpaca was reclassified as part of Vicugna after a 2001 paper on alpaca DNA.[1] The paper showed that the alpaca is descended from the vicuña, not the guanaco.
[edit] Gallery
|
A pair of alpacas near an Inca burial site in Peru
|
[edit] References
- ^ Wheeler, Dr Jane; Miranda Kadwell, Matilde Fernandez, Helen F. Stanley, Ricardo Baldi, Raul Rosadio, Michael W. Bruford (12 2001). "Genetic analysis reveals the wild ancestors of the llama and the alpaca". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 268 (1485): 2575–2584. doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1774. PMC 1088918. PMID 11749713. 0962-8452 (Paper) 1471-2954 (Online). http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1088918.