List of North American species extinct in the Holocene

This is a list of North American animals extinct in the Holocene that covers extinctions from the Holocene epoch, a geologic epoch that began about 11,650 years before present and continues to the present day.
Recently extinct animals in the West Indies and Hawaii are in their own respective lists.
Many extinction dates are unknown due to a lack of relevant information.

Mammals (class [Mammal]ia)

Armadillos, pampatheres, and glyptodonts (order [Cingulata])

Chlamyphorid armadillos and glyptodonts (family [Chlamyphoridae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
North American glyptodont	Glyptotherium cylindricum	Gulf of Mexico coast to northeastern Brazil	Most recent remains at Quetzaltenango, Guatemala dated to 9948-9306 BCE.

Lagomorphs (order [Lagomorpha])

Pikas (family [Ochotonidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments
Giant pika	Ochotona whartoni	Northern North America and possibly northeastern Siberia	Most recent remains dated to 8301-7190 BCE.

Rodents (order [Rodentia])

Beavers (family [Castoridae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Giant beaver	Castoroides ohioensis	North America	Most recent remains at Wayne County, New York dated to 8250-8150 BCE.

Hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice (family [Cricetidae])

Possibly extinct

Carnivorans (order [Carnivora])

Cats (family [Felidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
American lion	Panthera atrox	British Columbia to Central America	Most recent remains at Edmonton, Alberta dated to 9405 BCE.
North American sabertooth cat	Smilodon fatalis	Southern Alberta to northwestern South America	Most recent remains dated to 7615-7305 BCE.

Locally extinct

Dogs (family [Canidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Dire wolf	Aenocyon dirus	North America and western South America	Most recent remains at Rancho La Brea, California dated to 10208-8718 BCE.
Kenai Peninsula wolf	Canis lupus alces	Kenai Peninsula, Alaska	Exterminated through hunting, trapping, and poisoning by 1915. Wolves recolonized the Peninsula in 1962, a decade after predator eradication efforts were reduced.
Newfoundland wolf	Canis lupus beothucus	Newfoundland	Last known individual killed in 1896.
Banks Island wolf	Canis lupus bernardi	Banks Island, Northwest Territories	Last recorded between 1918 and 1952. Considered a synonym of the arctic wolf by some authors on morphological grounds.
Cascade Mountains wolf	Canis lupus fuscus	Pacific Northwest	Last recorded in 1940. Considered a synonym of the Great Plains wolf by some authors.
Mogollon mountain wolf	Canis lupus mogollonensis	Arizona	Last recorded in 1935. Considered a synonym of the Great Plains wolf or the Mexican wolf by different authors.
Texas gray wolf	Canis lupus monstrabilis	Texas	Last recorded in 1942. Considered a synonym of the Mexican wolf by some authors.
Southern Rocky Mountain wolf	Canis lupus youngi	Southern Rocky Mountains	Last recorded in 1935.
Florida black wolf	Canis rufus floridanus	Eastern United States	Extinct by 1920 as a result of deliberate eradication efforts, habitat destruction, and loss of prey.
Gregory's wolf	Canis rufus gregoryi	Lower Mississippi Valley	The last individuals may have hybridized with coyotes, whose post-1930 expansion eastward was facilitated by deforestation.
Southern California kit fox	Vulpes macrotis macrotis	Southern California coast	Last collected in 1903.

Extinct in the wild

Bears (family [Ursidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Giant short-faced bear	Arctodus simus	North America	Most recent remains dated to 8995-8845 BCE.

Locally extinct

Earless seals (family [Phocidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Caribbean monk seal	Neomonachus tropicalis	Caribbean Sea, Bahamas, and the Gulf of Mexico	Last recorded in southern Florida in 1922 and Yucatan in 1950. It was intensely hunted for its skin and oil, and persecuted as a competitor by fishermen in later times.

Martens, polecats, otters, badgers, and weasels (family [Mustelidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Sea mink	Neogale macrodon	Atlantic coast of Canada and New England	Hunted to extinction by fur traders by about 1860. Later records up to 1894 are actually references to the American mink.

Extinct in the wild

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Black-footed ferret	Mustela nigripes	Great Plains	Extinct in the wild in 1987 and reintroduced in 1991. Declined due to persecution as agricultural pest of its main prey, the prairie dog; introduced diseases like canine distemper and plague, and conversion of grasslands to agriculture.

Odd-toed ungulates (order Perissodactyla">Odd-toed ungulate">Perissodactyla)

Horses and allies (family [Equidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Mexican horse	Equus conversidens	Western North America	A small non-caballine species that coexisted in North America with the caballine horse. The most recent remains were dated to 8965-8875 BCE.

Locally extinct

Even-toed ungulates (order [Artiodactyla])

Camels and llamas (family [Camelidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Western camel	Camelops hesternus	Western North America	Most recent remains dated to 8170-7840 BCE.

Peccaries (family [Tayassuidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Long-nosed peccary	Mylohyus nasutus	Southern and eastern United States	Most recent remains dated to 8990-8690 BCE.
Flat-headed peccary	Platygonus compressus	Northwestern Mexico to northern Yukon	Most recent remains dated to 8990-8690 BCE.

Gray whales (family [Eschrichtiidae])

Locally extinct

True deer (family Cervidae">Deer">Cervidae)

Locally extinct

Cattle, goats, antelopes, and others (family [Bovidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Ancient bison	Bison antiquus	North America	A transitional form between steppe bison and modern American bison whose more recent remains date to the early Holocene of Valsequillo basin in Puebla, Mexico. However the direct dating to 5271-5131 BCE is not calibrated and the remains could be older. Other remains in North America have been dated to 8640-8500 BCE.
Western bison	Bison occidentalis	Eastern Beringia	Another transitional form to American bison that originated in a second dispersal of steppe bison across Beringia, and persisted in Alaska until around 220 CE.
Steppe bison	Bison priscus	Northern Eurasia and North America	Most recent remains at Whitehorse, Yukon dated to 3628-3377 BCE.
Woodland muskox	Bootherium bombifrons	North America	Most recent remains dated to 9110-8950 BCE.
Shrub-ox	Euceratherium collinum	Western United States and Mexico	Most recent remains dated to 9830-9530 BCE.
Harrington's mountain goat	Oreamnos harringtoni	Southern Rocky Mountains	Most recent remains at Rampart Cave, Arizona dated to 10490-9136 BCE.

Locally extinct

Birds (class Aves">Bird">Aves)

Landfowl (order [Galliformes])

Pheasants and allies (family [Phasianidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Californian turkey	Meleagris californica	California	Most recent remains dated to 9100-8380 BCE. However this date was not calibrated and the remains could be older.
Southwestern turkey	Meleagris crassipes	New Mexico	Most recent remains dated to 11510-8770 BCE.
Heath hen	Tympanuchus cupido cupido	East coast of the United States	Last individual, a male, died in Martha's Vineyard in 1932.
New Mexico sharp-tailed grouse	Tympanuchus phasianellus hueyi	New Mexico and possibly Colorado	Last individual killed in Colfax County, New Mexico in 1952.

Waterfowl (order [Anseriformes])

Ducks, geese, and swans (family [Anatidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Schneider's teal	Anas schneideri	Little Box Elder Cave, Wyoming	Most recent remains dated to 8800-8300 BCE.
Labrador duck	Camptorhynchus labradorius	Atlantic coast of Canada and New England	Last confirmed individual killed in 1875; unconfirmed in 1878.
Law's diving-goose	Chendytes lawi	Coastal California and Oregon	Most recent remains at Ventura County, California dated to 770-400 BCE.

Swifts, treeswifts, and hummingbirds (order [Apodiformes])

Hummingbirds (family [Trochillidae])

Possibly extinct

Pigeons and doves (order [Columbiformes])

Pigeons and doves (family [Columbidae])

Extinct in the wild

Rails and cranes (order [Gruiformes])

Rails (family [Rallidae])

Possibly extinct

Shorebirds (order [Charadriiformes])

Plovers, dotterels, and lapwings (family [Charadriidae])

Scientific name	Range	Comments
Vanellus downsi	Rancho La Brea, California	Most recent remains dated to 38050-8050 BCE.

Sandpipers (family Scolopacidae">Sandpiper">Scolopacidae)

Possibly extinct

Albatrosses and petrels (order [Procellariiformes])

Northern storm petrels (family [Hydrobatidae])

Possibly extinct

New World vultures (order [Cathartiformes])

New World vultures and condors (family [Cathartidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Painted vulture	Sarcoramphus sacra	Florida	Hypothetical species known from a 1774 description by William Bartram. Though traditionally dismissed as a hoax or incorrect description of a king vulture from Central and South America, which it resembled in everything except the tail's coloration and more predatory behavior, a 1734 account of the same bird and painting by Eleazar Albin, and a 1786 depiction of the tail feathers as part of a standard used by the Muscogee king Mico Chlucco suggest that it was an actual extirpated Floridan population of the king vulture, subspecies, or related species.

Extinct in the wild

Teratorns (family [Teratornithidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Slender teratorn	Cathartornis gracilis	Southern California	Most recent remains dated to 38050-8050 BCE.
Merriam's teratorn	Teratornis merriami	Southern California to northern Arizona	Most recent remains dated to 9050-8050 BCE.

Falcons (order [Falconiformes])

Falcons and caracaras (family [Falconidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Guadalupe caracara	Caracara lutosa	Guadalupe Island, Mexico	Deliberately exterminated by settlers in 1903.

Woodpeckers and allies (order [Piciformes])

Woodpeckers (family [Picidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments
Guadalupe flicker	Colaptes auratus rufipileus	Guadalupe Island, Mexico	Last collected in 1906. Extinct due to habitat destruction by introduced goats and predation by cats.

Possibly extinct

Perching birds (order [Passeriformes])

True finches (family Fringillidae">Finch">Fringillidae)

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments
McGregor's house finch	Carpodacus mexicanus mcgregori	San Benito and Cedros Islands, Mexico	Last recorded in 1938.

Thrashers, mockingbirds, tremblers, and New World catbirds (family [Mimidae])

Possibly extinct

New World sparrows (family [Passerellidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Dusky seaside sparrow	Ammospiza maritima nigrescens	Merritt Island and Titusville, Florida	Declined due to DDT use in marshes and habitat loss caused by dam construction. In 1981 the last five individuals, all male, were captured and taken into captivity. However, a proposed plan to hybridize them with Scott's seaside sparrow and select the offspring with most dusky ancestry wasn't allowed because of legal restrictions against hybridizing endangered taxa. The last individual died in Walt Disney World's Discovery Island Zoological Park in Orlando, Florida in 1987.
	Pipilo angelensis	Rancho La Brea, California	Most recent remains dated to 38050-8050 BCE.
Guadalupe towhee	Pipilo maculatus consobrinus	Guadalupe Island, Mexico	Last recorded in 1897. Extinct due to destruction of nesting habitat by introduced goats, and predation by cats.
Zacatecas Worthen's sparrow	Spizella wortheni browni	Northwest Zacatecas, Mexico	Last recorded in 1961. Extinct due to habitat loss to agriculture, overgrazing and erosion by cattle herding, and decline of native herbivores which maintained the bird's habitat.

New World warblers (family [Parulidae])

Possibly extinct

Reptiles (class Reptilia">Reptile">Reptilia)

Turtles and tortoises (order [Testudines])

Mud and musk turtles (family [Kinosternidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments
Viesca mud turtle	Kinosternon hirtipes megacephalum	Viesca Lake, southwestern Coahuila, Mexico	Only known from the type series collected in 1961. The lake has since been drained by humans.

Tortoises (family [Testudinidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Picture
Southeastern giant tortoise	Hesperotestudo crassiscutata	Southern United States	Most recent remains dated to around 9515 BCE.
Wilson's tortoise	Hesperotestudo wilsoni	Southwestern United States	Most recent remains dated to around 9050 BCE.

Amphibians (class Amphibia">Amphibian">Amphibia)

Frogs (order Anura">frog">Anura)

True toads (family [Bufonidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Chiriqui harlequin frog	Atelopus chiriquiensis	Talamanca-Chiriqui Mountains, Costa Rica	Last recorded in 1996. Extinct due to chytridiomycosis caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
Pass stubfoot toad	Atelopus senex	Central Costa Rica	Last recorded in 1986. Extinct due to chytridiomycosis.
Golden toad	Incilius periglenes	Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica	Last recorded in 1989. Probably extinct due to climate change, chytridiomycosis, and airborne pollution.

Extinct in the wild

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Wyoming toad	Anaxyrus baxteri	Laramie Basin, Wyoming	Survives only at the four-times impounded Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge, where it last reproduced naturally in 1991 and is re-stocked annually with captive born toadlets. The species is affected by chytridiomycosis, bacteria, pesticides, irrigation practices, lack of genetic diversity, predation by mustelids, drought, increased salinity, and expansion of the salt cedar which reduces habitat suitability.
Panamanian golden frog	Atelopus zeteki	El Valle de Antón and Cerro Campana, Panama	Last recorded in the wild in 2009. The species is mainly threatened by chytridiomycosis, but also deforestation, water pollution, collection for the pet trade, and increased sedimentation of streams caused by road construction.

Freshbelly frogs (family [Craugastoridae])

Scientific name	Range	Comments
Craugastor myllomyllon	Finca Volcán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala	Last recorded in 1978. Its natural habitat was destroyed by agriculture.

Possibly extinct

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments
McCranie's robber frog	Craugastor chrysozetetes	La Ceiba, Atlántida Department, Honduras	Last recorded in 1989. Possibly extinct due to catastrophic landslides caused by Hurricane Mitch, or chytridiomycosis.

Poison dart frogs (family [Dendrobatidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Splendid poison frog	Oophaga speciosa	Western Panama	Last recorded in 1992. Extinct due to chytridiomycosis.

Tree frogs and allies (family [Hylidae])

Possibly extinct

Salamanders (order [Urodela])

Lungless salamanders (family [Plethodontidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments
Ainsworth's salamander	Plethodon ainsworthi	Jasper County, Mississippi	Last recorded in 1964. Possibly extinct due to deforestation.
Jalpa false brook salamander	Pseudoeurycea exspectata	Cerro Miramundo, Jalapa, Guatemala	Last recorded in 1976. Possibly extinct due to habitat loss to farming and logging.

Ray-finned fish (class [Actinopterygii])

Minnows and allies (order [Cypriniformes])

Carps and minnows (family [Cyprinidae])

Extinct in the wild

Salmon, trout and relatives (order Salmoniformes">Salmonidae">Salmoniformes)

Salmon, trout and relatives (family [Salmonidae])

Possibly extinct

Silversides (order [Atheriniformes])

Neotropical silversides (family [Atherinopsidae])

Possibly extinct

Toothcarps (order [Cyprinodontiformes])

Pupfishes (family [Cyprinodontidae])

Possibly extinct

Extinct in the wild

Splitfins (family [Goodeidae])

Extinct in the wild

Poeciliids (family [Poeciliidae])

Possibly extinct

Extinct in the wild

Malacostracans (class [Malacostraca])

Isopods (order [Isopoda])

Marine pillbugs (family [Sphaeromatidae])

Extinct in the wild

Decapods (order [Decapoda])

Family [Cambaridae]

Possibly extinct

Insects (class [Insect]a)

Book lice, bark lice, and sucking lice (order [Psocodea])

Chicken body lice (family [Menoponidae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments
California condor louse	Colpocephalum californici	North America	Conservation-induced extinctions produced when the last California condors were taken into captivity and deloused in the mid-1980s.
Second unnamed species of California condor lice		North America	Conservation-induced extinctions produced when the last California condors were taken into captivity and deloused in the mid-1980s.
	Longimenopon dominicanum	Guadalupe Island, Mexico	Parasite of the Guadalupe storm petrel.

Possibly extinct

Bird chewing lice (family [Philopteridae])

Scientific name	Range	Comments
Acutifrons caracarensis	Guadalupe Island, Mexico	Parasite of the Guadalupe caracara, co-extinct with its host.

Possibly extinct

Mammal lice (family [Trichodectidae])

Possibly extinct

Arachnids (class [Arachnid]a)

Order [Mesostigmata]

Family [Halarachnidae]

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Caribbean monk seal nasal mite	Halarachne americana	Caribbean Sea	Extinct with its host.

Order [Sarcoptiformes]

Family [Analgidae]

Scientific name	Range	Comments
Diplaegidia gladiator	Eastern North America	Parasite of the passenger pigeon.

Family [Psoroptoididae]

Scientific name	Range	Comments
Chiasmalges carolinensis	Eastern and central United States	Parasite of the Carolina parakeet.

Family [Pterolichidae]

Scientific name	Range	Comments
Genoprotolichus simplex	Eastern and central United States	Parasites of the Carolina parakeet.
Lopharalichus beckeri	Eastern and central United States	Parasites of the Carolina parakeet.
Neorhytidelasma conuropsis	Eastern and central United States	Parasites of the Carolina parakeet.

Family [Pteronyssidae]

Scientific name	Range	Comments
Pterotrogus principalis	Southern United States and Cuba	Parasite of the ivory-billed woodpecker.

Family [Xolalgidae]

Scientific name	Range	Comments
Fainalges gracilitarsus	Eastern and central United States	Parasites of the Carolina parakeet.
Protonyssus proctorae	Eastern and central United States	Parasites of the Carolina parakeet.

Roundworms (phylum [Nematoda])

Order [Rhabditida]

Family [Onchocercidae]

Scientific name	Range	Comments
Agamofilaria oxyura	Rampart Cave, Arizona	Parasite of the Shasta ground sloth. Most recent remains dated to c. 9050 BCE.

Family [Strongyloididae]

Scientific name	Range	Comments
Strongyloides shastensis	Rampart Cave, Arizona	Parasite of the Shasta ground sloth. Most recent remains dated to c. 9050 BCE.

Plants (kingdom [Plantae])

Mosses (division Bryophyta">Moss">Bryophyta)

Neckera mosses (family [Neckeraceae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments
Macoun's shining moss	Neomacounia nitida	Hastings County, Ontario	Last collected in 1864.

Flowering plants (division [Angiospermae])

Sunflowers (family [Asteraceae])

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Appalachian Barbara's buttons	Marshallia grandiflora	Henderson and Polk Counties, North Carolina	Last recorded in 1919.