Bison occidentalis

Bison occidentalis is an extinct species of bison that lived in North America, from about 11,700 to 5,000 years ago, spanning the end of the Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene.^[2]

Bison occidentalis Temporal range: Terminal Pleistocene-Holocene
Bison occidentalis skull at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Bovinae
Genus:	Bison
Species:	†B. occidentalis
Binomial name
†Bison occidentalis Lucas, 1898 [1]

Evolution

Some authors consider Bison occidentalis to be an intermediate species between Bison antiquus and modern American bison (Bison bison), spanning from the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene and including remains from central North America.^[3] However, as the type specimen of B. occidentalis is from Alaska, other authors have argued that the species should be restricted to remains that region, with suggestions that true B. occidentalis evolved locally in the region from steppe bison (Bison priscus) around 13,000 years ago.^[4] Due to this uncertainty, specimens that likely represent intermediates between B. antiquus and B. bison in central North America have been referred to as B. "occidentalis".^[3] Some authors have suggested that B. bison descends from hybridization between true B. occidentalis migrating into central North America from Alaska and central North American B. antiquus, though this suggestion has been rejected by other authors who suggest that B. bison evolved from B. antiquus alone.^[4]

Some authors include remains found in continental Eurasia^[5][6][7] and the Japanese archipelago.^[8]

See also

• Great bison belt
• Steppe bison
• Bison antiquus
• American bison

References

1. Stephen Austin Hall (1972). "Holocene Bison occidentalis from Iowa". Journal of Mammalogy. 53 (3): 604–606. doi:10.2307/1379052. JSTOR 1379052.
2. McDonald, J. N. (1981). North American bison: their classification and evolution. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520040023.
3. Wilson, Michael C.; Hills, Leonard V.; Shapiro, Beth (July 2008). Gilbert, Robert (ed.). "Late Pleistocene northward-dispersing Bison antiquus from the Bighill Creek Formation, Gallelli Gravel Pit, Alberta, Canada, and the fate of Bison occidentalis". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 45 (7): 827–859. Bibcode:2008CaJES..45..827W. doi:10.1139/E08-027. ISSN 0008-4077.
4. Zver, Lars; Toškan, Borut; Bužan, Elena (September 2021). "Phylogeny of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Bison species in Europe and North America". Quaternary International. 595: 30–38. Bibcode:2021QuInt.595...30Z. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.04.022.
5. Gennady G. Boeskorov, Olga R. Potapova, Albert V. Protopopov, Valery V. Plotnikov, Larry D. Agenbroad, Konstantin S. Kirikov, Innokenty S. Pavlov, Marina V. Shchelchkova, Innocenty N. Belolyubskii, Mikhail D. Tomshin, Rafal Kowalczyk, Sergey P. Davydov, Stanislav D. Kolesov, Alexey N. Tikhonov, Johannes van der Plicht, 2016, The Yukagir Bison: The exterior morphology of a complete frozen mummy of the extinct steppe bison, Bison priscus from the early Holocene of northern Yakutia, Russia (pdf), Quaternary International, 406, Part B, pp.94-110.
6. C. G Van Zyll de Jong , 1986, A systematic study of recent bison, with particular consideration of the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae Rhoads 1898), p.53, National Museum of Natural Sciences
7. Michio Kawada, 1932, On Bison occidentalis Lucas from Manchuria on J-STAGE
8. Hasegawa, Y.; Okumura, Y.; Tatsukawa, H. (2009). "First record of Late Pleistocene Bison from the fissure deposits of the Kuzuu Limestone, Yamasuge，Sano-shi，Tochigi Prefecture，Japan" (PDF). Bull.Gunma Mus.Natu.Hist. (13). Gunma Museum of Natural History and Kuzuu Fossil Museum: 47–52. Retrieved 2018-12-03.