Vol. XXVI, pp. 65-66 March 22, 1913 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



A NEW GENERIC NAME FOR THE ASIATIC TAPIR. 



BY E. A. GOLDMAN. 



Comparison of the skulls of the American and Asiatic tapirs 

 indicates that the existing members of the family Tapiridae are 

 divisible by cranial characters into three nearly coordinate 

 groups which may be regarded as generic in rank. These are 

 Tapirus Brisson, the type of which is Hippopotamus terrestris 

 Linnaeus, from Brazil; Tapirella Palmer, with Elasmognathus 

 bairdii Gill, from the Isthmus of Panama, as type; and a third 

 group typified by the species currently recognized as Tapirus 

 indicus Desmarest, from Asia. The generic name Rhinochoerus 

 must be disregarded as it was proposed by Wagler to replace 

 Tapirus because the latter was not derived from a classical root.* 

 This name was adopted by Grayt for the Asiatic tapir, but was 

 based on the same South American species as Tapirus. 



Since no other generic name seems available for the Asiatic 

 tapir I propose the following: 



Acrocodia i gen. nov. 



Type. — Tapirus indicus Desmarest, from southeastern Asia, which will 

 now stand as Acrocodia indira (Desmarest). 



Diagnosis.— Similar in general to Tapirus and Tapirella, but with dis- 

 tinctive characters as follows: Braincase broad, elevated and inflated an- 

 teriorly, the antero-external surface of frontals facing outward, and not 

 deeply channeled above the frontomaxillary suture as in Tapirus and 

 Tapirella; lambdoid crest broadly U-shaped; maxillae not prolonged 

 upward in thin vertical plates embracing and supporting mesethmoid as 

 in Tapirella, the ascending branches nearly straight, with upper surface 

 flattened, and above lachrymals becoming wedge-shaped and continued 

 upward in same plane as frontals (ascending branches grooved or deeply 

 channeled in Tapirus, the upper portions broadly overlapped on inner 

 side by descending processes of nasals); nasals each with a deep circular 



14— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVI. 1913. 165) 



