Moschidae

Moschidae is a family of pecoran even-toed ungulates, containing the musk deer (Moschus) and its extinct relatives. They are characterized by long "saber teeth" instead of horns, antlers or ossicones, modest size and a lack of facial glands. While various Oligocene and Miocene pecorans were previously assigned to this family, recent studies find that most should be assigned to their own clades, although further research would need to confirm these traits. As a result, Micromeryx, Hispanomeryx, and Moschus are the only undisputed moschid members, making them known from at least 18 Ma. The group was abundant across Eurasia and North America during the Miocene, but afterwards declined to only the extant genus Moschus by the early Pleistocene.

Moschidae

Ra'ike (see also: de:Benutzer:Ra'ike ) · 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
Also called
musk deerPBDB
Sits inside
BovoideaPBDB
Diet
browser, grazerPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 22 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 29.5 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 10 of 220 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 205 of 220 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 220 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 5 of 220 occurrencesPleistocene30–29 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 7 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 8 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 9 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 8 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 12 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 17 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 17 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 17 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 17 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 17 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 18 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 19 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 16 occurrences10–9.0 Mya — about 13 occurrences9.0–8.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.0–7.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.0–6.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.0–5.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.0–4.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.0–2.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.0–1.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.0–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences23.04 Mya129 ka30.1 Mya0 Mya

220 occurrences of Moschidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

220 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

50 formations

Valentine — 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°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.39°N, 98.10°WAsh Hollow — 42.60°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 100.00°WAsh Hollow — 41.70°N, 103.10°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 43.20°N, 100.70°WWood Mountain — 49.20°N, 106.20°WWood Mountain — 49.17°N, 105.99°WRosebud — 43.18°N, 102.30°WRosebud — 43.30°N, 102.50°WFleming — 30.60°N, 95.20°WFleming — 30.61°N, 95.13°WFleming — 30.59°N, 94.91°WFleming — 30.50°N, 95.00°WTesuque — 36.50°N, 107.00°WTesuque — 35.50°N, 106.20°WSespe — 33.83°N, 117.71°WSespe — 33.73°N, 117.72°WSespe — 33.59°N, 117.76°WRunningwater — 41.70°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.80°N, 103.10°WLoh — 45.34°N, 101.83°EMascall — 44.52°N, 119.67°WMascall — 44.50°N, 119.30°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 109.00°WSheep Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WSnake Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WOakville — 30.10°N, 96.10°WOakville — 30.30°N, 95.70°WPunchbowl — 34.80°N, 117.00°WVaqueros — 33.78°N, 117.73°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 119.62°WLower Freshwater Molasse — 46.88°N, 7.11°EGoliad — 28.49°N, 97.67°WGoliad — 28.60°N, 97.70°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WMarks Head — 29.90°N, 82.10°WStatenville — 30.40°N, 83.00°WAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°W

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The named rock units Moschidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 26 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 80 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Moschidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Moschidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,910 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 192 sites for Moschidae, 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

92 references

Each of the 220 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. 80 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 Moschidae

Credit
Ra'ike (see also: de:Benutzer:Ra'ike )
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itBovoidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1821