Paracamelus

Paracamelus is an extinct genus of camel in the family Camelidae. It originated in North America and crossed the Beringian land bridge into Eurasia during the Late Miocene, approximately 7.5–6.5  million years ago (Ma). It is the presumed ancestor to living camels of the genus Camelus.

Taxonomy

Paracamelus was named by Schlosser (1903). Its type is Paracamelus gigas. P. gigas is known from the late Pliocene of China, while P. alutensis is known from the Plio-Pleistocene of Eastern Europe, P. alexejevi is known from Early Pliocene of Ukraine and P. aguirrei is known from the Late Miocene of Spain.

Evolutionary history

The closest relative of Paracamelus is disputed, with authors variously suggesting Megacamelus, Procamelus, and Megatylopus as likely candidates. During the late Miocene the genus spread to Eurasia across the Bering land bridge, arriving in Spain and Italy just prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis at approximately 6 Ma, with the earliest fossils in Africa around the Miocene-Pliocene boundary, approximately 5.3 million years ago, though they made have dispesed into the region somewhat earlier. Paracamelus is the presumed ancestor of modern Camelus. Camelus is distinguished from Paracamelus by the loss of the lower third premolar. A population belonging or closely related to Paracamelus remained in northern North America, which survived into the Pliocene, with remains known from Ellesmere Island in the Arctic circle, around 3.4 million years old, when global temperatures were around 2-3 °C warmer than present, with the local environment being a boreal forest. These camels may have survived in the region into the Early Pleistocene based on poorly dated fossils found in Yukon. The close relationship between these high Arctic and Yukon camels and modern Camelus has been confirmed by analysis of their collagen sequences.