Pronghorn

Open encyclopedia reference

The pronghorn (UK: , US: ) (Antilocapra americana) is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American antelope, prong buck, pronghorn antelope, and prairie antelope, because it closely resembles the antelopes of the Old World and fills a similar ecological niche due to parallel evolution. It is the only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae.

During the Pleistocene epoch, about 11 other antilocaprid species existed in North America, many with long or spectacularly twisted horns. Three other genera (Capromeryx, Stockoceros and Tetrameryx) existed when humans entered North America, but are now extinct.

The pronghorn's closest living relatives are the giraffe and okapi. The antilocaprids are part of the infraorder Pecora, making them distant relatives of deer, bovids, and moschids.

The pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in the Americas, with running speeds up to 55 mph (88.5 km/h). It is the symbol of the American Society of Mammalogists.

Wikipedia contributors, Pronghorn; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T01:24:41.364655+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Antilocapra americana (Ord, 1815)

Name authority

(Ord, 1815)

Common name

Pronghorn

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Artiodactyla

Family

Antilocapridae

Genus

Antilocapra

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderArtiodactyla Owen, 1848
12. familyAntilocapridae Gray, 1866
13. genusAntilocapra Ord, 1818
14. speciesAntilocapra americana (Ord, 1815)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 1 records assigned to Antilocapridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180717 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:5VLCR. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.