Dromomerycidae

Dromomerycidae is an extinct family of Neogene ruminants belonging to the infraorder Pecora. Dromomerycids, known by two subfamilies, were endemic to North America from the later early Miocene up to the early Pliocene, leaving no descendants. Dromomerycidae has a long history of uncertain taxonomic affiliations due to its superficial resemblances with the Eurasian Neogene Palaeomerycidae and were traditionally classified as subfamilies within the family. However, recent research differentiates the dromomerycids from the Giraffomorpha by the lack of sutures on the skull roof that typically make up the ossicones of the later clade. The similar resemblances of the appendages therefore could be the result of parallel evolution.

Dromomerycidae

FunkMonk · 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
CervoideaPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 13 million years on record.

The record covers at least 18.5 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.1 Mya to 3.6 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 242 occurrencesMiocene — about 237 of 242 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 242 occurrencesPliocene24–23 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 10 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 17 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 17 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 17 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 16 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 16 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 16 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 16 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 16 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 12 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 11 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 11 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 11 occurrences9.9–9.3 Mya — about 10 occurrences9.3–8.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences8.6–7.9 Mya — about 6 occurrences7.9–7.2 Mya — about 6 occurrences7.2–6.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.5–5.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.8–5.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.2–4.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.5–3.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.8–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18.5 Mya5.333 Mya23.6 Mya3.1 Mya

242 occurrences of Dromomerycidae 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

242 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

51 formations

Ash Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.39°N, 98.10°WAsh Hollow — 40.50°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 41.70°N, 103.10°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 41.20°N, 101.80°WAsh Hollow — 41.40°N, 102.40°WAsh Hollow — 41.10°N, 103.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 100.00°WAsh Hollow — 43.20°N, 100.70°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 40.10°N, 98.50°WValentine — 42.60°N, 98.00°WMascall — 44.90°N, 120.20°WMascall — 44.50°N, 119.30°WMascall — 44.52°N, 119.67°WMascall — 44.20°N, 120.50°WMascall — 44.00°N, 120.13°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WSheep Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WWood Mountain — 49.20°N, 106.20°WJohn Day — 44.76°N, 121.26°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 121.30°WJohn Day — 44.50°N, 119.30°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 119.62°WCaliente — 34.30°N, 119.00°WTemblor — 35.44°N, 118.88°WTemblor — 35.46°N, 118.92°WTemblor — 35.27°N, 119.31°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WPawnee Creek — 40.80°N, 104.20°WPawnee Creek — 40.90°N, 103.28°WBox Butte — 42.20°N, 103.10°WBox Butte — 42.80°N, 103.10°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 108.20°WSnake Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WTorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WAlachua — 29.40°N, 82.60°WAlachua — 29.10°N, 82.30°WDeep River — 46.50°N, 111.00°WDeep River — 46.00°N, 111.00°WButte Creek — 43.60°N, 117.50°WTesuque — 36.50°N, 107.00°WTesuque — 35.50°N, 106.20°WRunningwater — 41.70°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBatesland — 43.13°N, 101.87°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 109.00°WOgallala — 36.70°N, 101.40°WOgallala — 38.90°N, 101.70°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Dromomerycidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 27 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 62 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dromomerycidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Dromomerycidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,855 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 209 sites for Dromomerycidae, 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

73 references

Each of the 242 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. 61 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 content1

Picture of Dromomerycidae

Credit
FunkMonk
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Dromomerycidae was found in Sketchfab.

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

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 itCervoidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Frick 1937)