The genus that includes the brown bear, polar bear, and American black bear is Ursus.
Ursus is a genus in the bear family, Ursidae. Its living members include the brown bear (Ursus arctos), polar bear (Ursus maritimus), American black bear (Ursus americanus), and Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus). The genus name comes from the Latin word for “bear.”
A common mix-up is confusing a genus with a species. “Ursus” is the shared genus, while the second part of each binomial identifies the species. The sun bear, for example, belongs to Helarctos, and the spectacled bear belongs to Tremarctos. Older classifications sometimes placed certain bears in separate genera, but modern taxonomy generally treats the polar and Asian black bears as members of Ursus.
The genus also has an evolutionary twist: brown bears and polar bears are distinct species, yet they can occasionally hybridize, producing hybrids commonly called pizzly or grolar bears.