Aletomeryx

Aletomeryx is an extinct genus of Artiodactyla, of the family Dromomerycidae, endemic to North America from the early Miocene epoch 20.6—16.3 Ma, existing for approximately 4.3 million years.

Aletomeryx

Jonathan Chen · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AletomerycinaePBDB
Diet
grazerPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Palaeomerycidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 2.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 18.5 Mya to 16.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.1 Mya to 12.5 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 19 occurrencesMiocene — about 19 of 19 occurrencesMiocene23–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18.5 Mya16.3 Mya23.6 Mya12 Mya

19 occurrences of Aletomeryx on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

19 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Runningwater — 42.75°N, 102.02°WRunningwater — 41.70°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.49°N, 102.96°WRunningwater — 42.80°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.20°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.80°N, 100.80°WRunningwater — 42.44°N, 103.30°WRunningwater — 42.63°N, 103.14°WMarsland — 42.42°N, 103.87°W"middle Miocene" — 41.30°N, 105.10°WTorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°WKramer Beds — 35.05°N, 117.69°WCarpenter Ranch — 42.27°N, 104.05°WMonarch Mill — 39.20°N, 117.90°WHarrison — 42.20°N, 103.10°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Aletomeryx has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Aletomeryx and its relatives

Miocene

Where Aletomeryx and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

148 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Aletomeryx, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

15 references

Each of the 19 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 3 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Aletomeryx

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Aletomeryx scotti · AMNH:F:AM:99947

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAletomerycinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lull 1920