Bos (from Latin bōs: cow, ox, bull) is a genus of bovines, which includes, among others, wild and domestic cattle.

Bos is often divided into four subgenera: Bos, Bibos, Novibos, and Poephagus, but including these last three divisions within the genus Bos without including Bison is believed to be paraphyletic by many workers on the classification of the genus since the 1980s. The genus as traditionally defined has five extant species, but this rises to eight when the domesticated varieties are counted as separate species, and ten when the closely related Bison is also included. Most but not all modern breeds of domesticated cattle (including taurine cattle and zebu) are believed to have originated from the extinct aurochs. Others like Bali cattle and gayal are thought to have originated from South and Southeast Asian Bos species.

Description

The species are grazers, with large teeth to break up the plant material they ingest. They are ruminants, having a four-chambered stomach that allows them to break down plant material.

Most species travel in small herds ranging in size from ten to thirty members. Within most herds, there is one bull (male) for all the cows (female). Dominance is important in the herds;

During the 2010s, analysis of the complex genetics of the bovine lineages determined that the genus Bison needed to be relegated to a subgenus of Bos in order to retain monophyly within Bos since both extant species of Bison are phylogenetically embedded within Bos.

Relationships of members of the genus Bos based on nuclear genomes after Sinding, et al. 2021.

Species

The following species are known:

  • Subgenus Bos
  • Bos taurus (domestic cattle)
  • B. t. taurus (Taurine cattle)
  • B. t. africanus (Sanga cattle)
  • Bos indicus (zebu or indicine cattle)
  • †Bos primigenius (aurochs)
  • †B. p. primigenius (Eurasian aurochs)
  • †B. p. mauritanicus (North African aurochs)
  • †B. p. namadicus (Indian aurochs)
  • †Bos acutifrons
  • †Bos buiaensis
  • Subgenus Bibos
  • Bos gaurus (gaur or Indian bison)
  • Bos frontalis (gayal)
  • Bos javanicus (banteng)
  • B. j. domesticus (Bali cattle)
  • †Bos palaesondaicus
  • †Bos sauveli (kouprey) (likely extinct, last seen 1969)
  • Subgenus Poephagus
  • Bos mutus (wild yak)
  • Bos grunniens (domestic yak)
  • †Bos baikalensis
  • Subgenus Bison
  • B. b. bison (plains bison)
  • B. b. athabascae (wood bison)
  • Bos bonasus (wisent or European bison)
  • B. b. bonasus (lowland wisent)
  • †B. b. hungarorum (Carpathian wisent)
  • †B. b. caucasicus (dombay or Caucasian wisent)
  • †Bos priscus (Steppe wisent)
  • †Bos antiquus
  • †Bos hanaizumiensis
  • †Bos latifrons
  • †Bos menneri

See also

  • Bovine genome
  • Sacred bull

References

  • Vasey, George 1862. A monograph of the genus Bos. Scan of a historic work