Merycochoerus

Merycochoerus is an extinct genus of oreodont of the family Merycoidodontidae, endemic to North America. They lived during the Early Oligocene 33.9—30.8 mya, existing for approximately 3 million years. Fossils are widespread through the western United States.

Merycochoerus

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
MerycochoerinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Merycoidodontidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Merycoidodontidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 18.5 Mya to 15.98 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 29.5 Mya to 11.63 Mya.

Oligocene — about 2 of 37 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 35 of 37 occurrencesMiocene30–29 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences29–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 6 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 6 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 5 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18.5 Mya15.98 Mya30 Mya11.1 Mya

37 occurrences of Merycochoerus 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

37 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

11 formations

Runningwater — 42.80°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.20°N, 103.10°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WMarsland — 42.00°N, 104.20°WMarsland — 42.62°N, 104.40°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.50°N, 119.30°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 119.62°WJohn Day — 44.85°N, 121.27°WJohn Day — 44.76°N, 121.29°WTroublesome — 40.20°N, 106.10°WRosebud — 43.30°N, 102.50°WPawnee Creek — 40.90°N, 103.27°WCucaracha — 9.10°N, 79.70°WCucaracha — 9.05°N, 79.67°WColter — 43.90°N, 110.80°WArikaree — 47.40°N, 102.80°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WCarpenter Ranch — 42.24°N, 104.08°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Merycochoerus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Merycochoerus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Merycochoerus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

169 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 34 sites for Merycochoerus, 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

20 references

Each of the 37 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. 8 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 Merycochoerus

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

No 3D scan of Merycochoerus 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 itMerycochoerinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leidy 1858