Editing Llama (section)

== Classification ==
[[File:A Quechua girl and her Llama.jpg|thumb|A traditionally dressed [[Quechuas|Quechua]] girl with a llama in [[Cusco]], [[Peru]]]]
[[File:Llama in ueno zoo - 2009 Aug.webm|thumb|thumbtime=2|Llama in captivity in [[Japan]], 2009]]

Lamoids, or llamas (as they are more generally known as a group), consist of the [[vicuña]] (''Lama vicugna''), [[guanaco]] (''Lama guanicoe''), Suri [[alpaca]], and [[Huacaya alpaca]] (''Lama pacos''), and the domestic llama (''Lama glama''). Guanacos and vicuñas live in the wild, while llamas and alpacas exist only as domesticated animals.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Wonders of Llamas |isbn=0-396-07460-X |first=Roger |last=Perry |year=1977 |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/wondersofllamas00perr/page/7 7] |url=https://archive.org/details/wondersofllamas00perr/page/7 }}</ref> Although early writers compared llamas to [[sheep]], their similarity to the [[camel]] was soon recognized. They were included in the genus ''Camelus'' along with [[alpaca]] in the ''Systema Naturae'' ([[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]) of [[Carl Linnaeus]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zb9zbY-JfBUC|isbn=0-8138-0397-7|title=Medicine and Surgery of South American Camelids|author=Murray E. Fowler|year=1998|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|page=1}}</ref> They were, however, separated by [[Georges Cuvier]] in 1800 under the name of ''lama'' along with the [[guanaco]].<ref name=ITIS>{{cite web|title=Lama|url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=624943#|publisher=Integrated Taxonomic Information System|access-date=5 January 2013}}</ref> [[DNA]] analysis has confirmed that the guanaco is the wild ancestor of the llama, while the vicuña is the wild ancestor of the alpaca.<ref name=wheeler>{{cite journal|first =Dr Jane|last =Wheeler|author2=Miranda Kadwell |author3=Matilde Fernandez |author4=Helen F. Stanley |author5=Ricardo Baldi |author6=Raul Rosadio |author7=Michael W. Bruford |date=December 2001|title =Genetic analysis reveals the wild ancestors of the llama and the alpaca|journal =Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume =268|issue =1485|pages =2575–2584|id= 0962-8452 (Paper) 1471–2954 (Online)|doi = 10.1098/rspb.2001.1774|pmid =11749713|pmc =1088918 }}</ref>

The genus ''Lama'' is, with the two species of true camels, the sole existing representatives of a very distinct section of the [[Artiodactyla]] (even-toed ungulates) called [[Tylopoda]], or "bump-footed", from the peculiar bumps on the soles of their feet. The Tylopoda consists of a single family, the Camelidae, and shares the [[taxon|order]] Artiodactyla with the [[Suinae|Suina]] ([[pig]]s), the Tragulina ([[chevrotain]]s), the [[Pecora]] ([[ruminant]]s), and the [[Whippomorpha]] ([[Hippopotamidae|hippos]] and [[cetacea]]ns, which belong to Artiodactyla from a [[Cladistics|cladistic]], if not traditional, standpoint). The Tylopoda have more or less affinity to each of the sister [[taxon|taxa]], standing in some respects in a middle position between them, sharing some characteristics from each, but in others showing special modifications not found in any of the other taxa.{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}
[[File:Domestic llama (2009-05-19).jpg|thumb|left|A domestic llama]]
The 19th-century discoveries of a vast and previously unexpected extinct [[Paleogene]] fauna of North America, as interpreted by paleontologists [[Joseph Leidy]],<ref name="Florida Vertebrate Fossils 2013 k265">{{cite web | title=Mixson's Bone Bed | website=Florida Museum | date=September 30, 2013 | url=https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/sites/mixsons-bone-bed/ | access-date=March 26, 2024}}</ref> [[Edward Drinker Cope]],<ref name="NPS_camels 2021 m435">{{cite web | title=The Camels | website=U.S. National Park Service | date=October 12, 2021 | url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-camels.htm | access-date=March 26, 2024}}</ref> and [[Othniel Charles Marsh]], aided understanding of the early history of this family.{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}} Llamas were not always confined to [[South America]]; abundant llama-like remains were found in [[Pleistocene]] deposits in the [[Rocky Mountains]] and in [[Central America]]. Some of the [[fossil]] llamas were much larger than current forms. Some species remained in North America during the last ice ages. North American llamas are categorized as an extinct genus, ''[[Hemiauchenia]]''. Llama-like animals would have been a common sight 25,000 years ago in modern-day [[California]], [[Texas]], [[New Mexico]], [[Utah]], [[Missouri]], and [[Florida]].<ref name=kurten>{{cite book|last=Kurtén|first=Björn|title=Pleistocene Mammals of North America|year=1980|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|isbn=0231037333|author2=Anderson, Elaine |page=307}}</ref>

The camelid lineage has a good fossil record. Camel-like animals have been traced back through early [[Miocene]] forms from the thoroughly differentiated, modern species. Their characteristics became more general, and they lost those that distinguished them as camelids; hence, they were classified as ancestral artiodactyls.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Evolutionary Transitions in the Fossil Record of Terrestrial Hoofed Mammals |last=Prothero |first=Donald R |date=April 16, 2009 |journal=Evolution: Education and Outreach |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=289–302 |publisher= 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Part of Springer Nature. |doi=10.1007/s12052-009-0136-1 |s2cid=32344744 |doi-access=free }}</ref> No fossils of these earlier forms have been found in the [[Old World]], indicating that North America was the original home of camelids and that the ancestors of Old World [[camel]]s crossed over via the [[Beringia|Bering Land Bridge]] from North America. The formation of the [[Isthmus of Panama]] three million years ago allowed camelids to spread to South America as part of the [[Great American Interchange]], where they evolved further. Meanwhile, North American camelids [[Quaternary extinction event|died out at the end of the Pleistocene]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Grayson |first1=Donald K. |year=1991 |title=Late Pleistocene mammalian extinctions in North America: Taxonomy, chronology, and explanations |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |volume= 5|issue=3 |pages=193–231 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |doi=10.1007/BF00974990|s2cid=162363534 }}</ref>