Capromeryx
Capromeryx is an extinct genus of dwarf pronghorns (Antilocapridae) that originated in North America during the Pliocene about 5 million years ago. Antilocaprines began to decline in diversity during the Late Miocene, and the closest living relative and only surviving antilocaprine is the North American pronghorn.

David Monniaux · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
- AntilocaprinaePBDB
- Diet
- browser, grazerPBDB, for Antilocapridae
- Life habit
- ground dwellingPBDB, for Antilocapridae
- Motility
- actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
- Environment
- terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla
Time the record covers
At least 1.6 million years on record.
The record covers at least 1.8 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.
68 occurrences of Capromeryx on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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
68 occurrences- Pliocene21%
- Pleistocene79%
- Holoceneunder 1%
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
18 formations
- Palm Spring Formation12
- Kingsdown Formation2
- Tamiami Formation1
- Long Pine Formation1
- Palomas Formation1
- Love Formation1
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The named rock units Capromeryx has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 38 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.
Capromeryx and its relatives
PleistoceneWhere Capromeryx and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.
Found in the same rock
789 taxa- Equus42 sites
- Camelops34 sites
- Hemiauchenia29 sites
- Platygonus25 sites
- Odocoileus21 sites
- Canis latrans18 sites
- Sylvilagus17 sites
- Mammuthus columbi15 sites
- Dipodomys14 sites
- Odocoileus virginianus14 sites
- Plesippus simplicidens14 sites
- Megalonyx13 sites
- Equus mexicanus12 sites
- Geomyidae12 sites
- Neotoma12 sites
- Paramylodon harlani12 sites
- Peromyscus12 sites
- Sigmodon minor12 sites
- Aenocyon dirus11 sites
- Lepus11 sites
- Sigmodon11 sites
- Tapirus11 sites
- Thomomys11 sites
- Bison10 sites
The Paleobiology Database records 67 sites for Capromeryx, 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
45 references- Biostratigraphy of Blancan and Irvingtonian mammals in the Fish Creek-Vallecito Creek section, southern California, and a review of the Blancan-Irvingtonian boundary12
- Synonymies and reidentifications of North American fossil mammals4
- Actinomycetes pardinensis (Carnivora, Felidae) from the Early Pleistocene of Pantalla (Italy): predatory behavior and ecological role of the giant Plio-Pleistocene cheetah2
- Taxonomy and notes on the paleobiology of the late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) antilocaprids (Mammalia, Artiodactyla, Antilocapridae) from the state of Hidalgo, central Mexico2
- Overview of the geology and vertebrate biochronology of the Leisey Shell Pit Local Fauna, Hillsborough County, Florida2
- A New Species of Capromeryx (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the Taunton Local Fauna of Washington, and the Correlation with Other Blancan Faunas of Washington and Idaho2
- A catalogue of late Quaternary Vertebrates from California: Part Two, Mammals2
- Reconstruction of mid Wisconsinan environments in southern New Mexico2
- Geology and Paleontology of the Early Pleistocene (Late Blancan) White Rock Fauna from North-Central Kansas2
- Hintlian, 19752
- Pleistocene vertebrates of the Los Angeles basin and vicinity:(exclusive of Rancho La Brea)2
- The Irvingtonian General Kearney local fauna, Riverside County, California and comparisons to Pleistocene faunas of Southern California1
Each of the 68 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. 33 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 Capromeryx
- Source
- Wikipedia/Commons
- Credit
- David Monniaux
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 3.0
- Commercial use
- the licence allows it
3D model
- Source
- Sketchfab
- Licence
- CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
- Commercial use
- the licence does not allow it
Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.
The description on this site
- Source
- Wikipedia, “Capromeryx”
- 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 itAntilocaprinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Matthew 1902