Tapirus veroensis
Tapirus veroensis, commonly called the vero tapir, is an extinct tapir species that lived in the areas of modern-day Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee. "Tapirus veronensis" is thought to have gone extinct around 11,000 years ago. History. The first complete skull with full dentition of "T. veroensis" fossil was found at Vero Beach, Florida, in 1915 and named in 1918 by the Florida State Geologist E. H. Sellards. Fragmentary specimens had been described by Leidy as early as 1852. Physical characteristics. "Tapirus veroensis" fossils found in Northern Alabama were with caribou and peccary fossils, which implies  that "T. veroensis" was capable of living in a temperate climate with subfreezing temperatures. "T. veronensis" was most similar to the extant mountain tapir. As with all tapir species, "T. veroensis" had a proboscis used for grabbing branches to eat foliage. They were herbivores, living on a diet of forest vegetation. They most likely weighed over 600 pounds (270 kilograms) and would have been capable of fending off large predators. Taxonomy. There are multiple pieces of evidence which indicate most, if not all, of the 5 accepted Pleistocene tapir species found in North America ("T. californicus", "T. haysii" ("T. copei ), T. lundeliusi", "T. merriami", "T. veroensis") may actually belong to the same species. "T. californicus" was considered to be a subspecies of "T. haysii" by Merriam, "T. californicus" and "T. veroensis" are nearly impossible to distinguish morphologically and occupy the same time frame, being separated only by location, and "T. haysii", "T. veroensis", and "T. lundeliusi" are already considered so closely related that they occupy the same subgenus ("Helicotapirus"). Additionally, few details distinguish "T. haysii" and "T. veroensis" except size, date, and wear of teeth; and the intermediate sizes overlap greatly with many specimens originally assigned to one species, then  later switched over to another.