The cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) is a large-sized feline ( family Felidae, subfamily Felinae ) inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East.

It is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx.

The genus name, Acinonyx, means " no-move-claw " in Greek, while the species name, jubatus, means " maned " or " crested " in Latin, a reference to the dorsal crest found in cheetah cubs.

Wozencraft ( 1993 ) put the genus Acinonyx in their own monophyletic subfamily, Acinonychinae.

The Sahel was formerly home to large populations of grazing mammals, including the Scimitar-horned Oryx ( Oryx dammah ), Dama Gazelle ( Gazella dama ), Dorcas Gazelle ( Gazella dorcas ) and Red-fronted Gazelle ( Gazella rufifrons ), and Bubal Hartebeest ( Alcelaphus busephalus buselaphus ), along with large predators like the African Wild Dog ( Lycaon pictus ), Cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ), and Lion ( Panthera leo ).

The ecoregion supports populations of several important Saharan large mammals including the Dorcas gazelle ( Gazella dorcas ), Barbary sheep ( Ammotragus lervia ) and Cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ).

The now-extinct species include: Acinonyx pardinensis ( Pliocene epoch ), much larger than the modern cheetah and found in Europe, India, and China ; Acinonyx intermedius ( mid-Pleistocene period ), found over the same range.

Acinonyx rex — the king cheetah ( see below )— was abandoned as a subspecies after it was discovered that the variation was caused by a single recessive gene.

The subspecies Acinonyx jubatus guttatus, the woolly cheetah, may also have been a variation due to a recessive gene.

( 1999 ), and Mattern and McLennan ( 2000 ) consider Acinonyx, Puma concolor, and Puma (= Herpailurus ) yagouaroundi as representatives of closely related sister groups.

The unusually large, square nasal opening, like that of the cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ), presumably allowed quicker oxygen intake, which aided in rapid running and in cooling the brain.

Eklund, Peters & Duthie ( 2010 ), comparing purring in a cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) and a domestic cat ( Felis catus ) found that the cheetah purred with an average frequency of 20. 87 Hz ( egressive phases ) and 18. 32 Hz ( ingressive phases ), while the much smaller domestic cat purred with an average frequency of 21. 98 Hz ( egressive phases ) and 23. 24 Hz ( ingressive phases ).

An acoustic analysis of purring in the cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) and in the domestic cat ( Felis catus ), Proceedings of Fonetik 2010, 2 – 4 June 2010, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, pp. 17-22.

Hyoid apparatus and pharynx in the lion ( Panthera leo ), jaguar ( Panthera onca ), tiger ( Panthera tigris ), cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) and domestic cat ( Felis silvestris f. catus ).

* 1936: Further records of the distribution of the cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus Erxl.

The aardvark is not closely related to the pig ; rather, it is the sole recent representative of the obscure mammalian order Tubulidentata, in which it is usually considered to form one variable species of the genus Orycteropus, the sole surviving genus in the family Orycteropodidae.

Thelymitra is an example of a genus where the lower petal is similar in appearance to the other petals.

Blandfordia is the only genus in the family Blandfordiaceae, with four species distributed in eastern Australia.

The genus Cyanastrum is sometimes placed in its own family Cyanastraceae.

The most conspicuous genus in the family is Aloe.

Agapanthus, native to South Africa, is the sole genus of the subfamily.

For example, Pyrethrum ( refers to several Old World plants of the genus Chrysanthemum ) is a natural insecticide with minimal environmental impact.

Wormwood, a genus that includes the sagebrush, is used as a source of flavoring for absinthe, a bitter classical liquor of European origin.

The subfamily name is derived from the generic name of the type genus, Allium.

Allieae contains only one genus Allium ( Milula is merged with Allium in the latest systems ).

The Latin name ' Asteraceae ' is derived from the type genus Aster, which is a Greek term, meaning " star ".

The name is derived from the type genus Apium, which was originally used by Pliny the Elder circa 50 AD for a celery-like plant.

Within the genus Prunus, it is classified with the peach in the subgenus Amygdalus, distinguished from the other subgenera by the corrugated shell ( endocarp ) surrounding the seed.

Ardipithecus is a fossil hominoid, described by its discoverers as a very early hominin genus.

Albertosaurus (; meaning " Alberta lizard ") is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in western North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 70 million years ago.

The type species, A. sarcophagus, was apparently restricted in range to the modern-day Canadian province of Alberta, after which the genus is named.

In Central and South America, the alligator family is represented by five species of the genus Caiman, which differs from the alligator by the absence of a bony septum between the nostrils, and the ventral armour is composed of overlapping bony scutes, each of which is formed of two parts united by a suture.

The order Caudata ( from the Latin cauda meaning " tail ") consists of the salamanders, elongated, low-slung animals that mostly resemble lizards in form, though this is a symplesiomorphic trait and the two groups are no more closely related than salamanders are to mammals.

The outside of the skin is shed periodically more or less in one piece in contrast to mammals and birds where it is shed in flakes.

The ilium slopes forward and the body is held closer to the ground than in mammals.

The amphibian brain is less well developed than that of reptiles, birds and mammals but is similar in morphology and function to that of a fish.

The diversity of animals in the Andes is high, with almost 600 species of mammals ( 13 % endemic ), more than 1, 700 species of birds ( about 1 / 3 endemic ), more than 600 species of reptile ( about 45 % endemic ), and almost 400 species of fish ( about 1 / 3 endemic ).

Ancylopoda is a group of browsing, herbivorous, mammals in the Perissodactyla that show long, curved and cleft claws.

A classic example of this is the replacement of the non-avian dinosaurs with mammals at the end of the Cretaceous, and of brachiopods by bivalves at the Permo-Triassic boundary.

In mammals, the adrenal glands ( also known as suprarenal glands ) are endocrine glands that sit at the top of the kidneys ; in humans, the right adrenal gland is triangular shaped, while the left adrenal gland is semilunar shaped.

Monotreme mammals also have a cloaca, which is thought to be a feature inherited from the earliest amniotes via the therapsids.

Amblypoda is a taxonomic hypothesis uniting a group of extinct, herbivorous mammals.

All of these brains contain the same set of basic anatomical components, but many are rudimentary in the hagfish, whereas in mammals the foremost part ( the telencephalon ) is greatly elaborated and expanded.

In mammals it is usually referred to as the superior colliculus, and its best-studied function is to direct eye movements.

In reptiles and mammals, it is called the cerebral cortex.

* The hippocampus, strictly speaking, is found only in mammals.

There is evidence that this part of the brain is involved in spatial memory and navigation in fishes, birds, reptiles, and mammals.

The most obvious difference between the brains of mammals and other vertebrates is in terms of size.

The hindbrain and midbrain of mammals are generally similar to those of other vertebrates, but dramatic differences appear in the forebrain, which is greatly enlarged and also altered in structure.

The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that most strongly distinguishes mammals.

Bromine has no essential function in mammals, though it is preferentially used over chloride by one antiparasitic enzyme in the human immune system.

Among mammals, bipedalism is a normal method of ground locomotion in various groups of primates ( e. g. lemurs, gibbons and Hominina ), in the macropods ( kangaroos, wallabies, etc.