Hemiauchenia

Hemiauchenia, synonym Tanupolama, is a genus of lamine camelids that evolved in North America in the Miocene period approximately 10 million years ago. This genus diversified and moved to South America in the Early Pleistocene, as part of the Great American Biotic Interchange, giving rise to modern lamines. The genus became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek: ἡμι- (hēmi-, 'half'-) and αὐχήν (auchēn, 'neck'). Species are specified using Latin adjectives or Latinised names from other languages. Remains of these species have been found in assorted locations around North America including: Florida, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Arizona, Mexico, California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado and Washington. The 'large-headed llama', H. macrocephala, was widely distributed in North and Central America, with H. vera being known from the western United States and northern Mexico. H. minima has been found in Florida, and H. guanajuatensis in Mexico. Fossils of Hemiauchenia in South America are restricted to the Pleistocene and have been found in the Luján and Agua Blanca Formations of Buenos Aires Province and in Córdoba Province, Argentina, the Tarija Formation of Bolivia, and in Paraíba, Ceará, and in the Touro Passo Formation of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. There are also a few lesser known species such as: H. paradoxa, H. seymourensis, H. edensis and H. guanajuatensis. According to which source is consulted, these may or may not be considered legitimate taxa. Prior to 1974, fossil specimens now thought to be Hemiauchenia were classified as Holomeniscus, Lama, and Tanupolama, until S.David Webb proposed that these North and South American fossil species were part of a single genus. This has been accepted by all subsequent researchers, although in 2013 Carolina Saldanha Scherer questioned the inclusion of a certain North American species and suggested that hemiauchenia is paraphyletic.