Classification
Classification:
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Genus: Madoqua
Species: Madoqua saltiana, Madoqua kirkii,
Madoqua guentheri, Madoqua piacentinii
The common name for the Madoqua is the dik-dik, which
is described as a small antelope.
Eukarya: The dik-dik is a eukaryote with cells
having nuclei.
Animalia: The dik-dik is multicellular, motile
(at least at some stage), heterotrophic, and they also lack cell
walls for structure.
Chordata: The dik-dik is bilaterally symmetric,
triploblastic, a deuterostome, and contains a notochord.
Mammalia: The dik-diks have many features that
classify them as a mammal; a couple of them are as follows:
endothermic, amniotes, covered in hair, placentals, and females
contain mammary glands.
Artiodactyla: (even toed ungulates [hooved
animals]) The weight of the Dik-dik is spread evenly about the
third and fourth toes rather than mostly on the third toe.
Bovidae: The dik-dik’s have many of the common
traits of bovids including; four-chambered ruminants, unbranched
horns (on males). Members of this family include; antelopes,
gazelles,
sheep, goats, and
cattle.
Medoqua: This is known as the dik-dik
which is a small antelope with an elongated snout forming into a
proboscis.
(Madoqua kirkii, 2013)
Figure 1. Phylogentic tree at the
Family level of classification emphasizing ruminants.
The blue families of this phylogenetic tree
are all ruminants. The Dik-dik is in the Bovidae family. This tree
shows that Moschidae and Cervidae along with the Bovidae form a
clade, and they would all be sister taxa. Because of the Tragulidae
family, the ruminants are not a monophyletic group. This tree is
based on morphological data.
(Ruminantia, 2006)
Figure 2. Phylogentic tree based
on molecular evidence
This tree shows that Dik-diks form a
monophyletic group with Gazelles, Sharpe’s Grysbok, Southern
Grysbok, and the Steenbok. The Dik-dik is more closely related to
the Steenbok and Grysboks than to Gazelles. This tree is based off
of molecular data using the following genes; Thy, PRKC1, SPTBN1,
Kap-cas, Cyt b, 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA. Four of the genes are
independent DNA markers and three are mitochondrial DNA markers.
(Matthee & Davis, 2001)