Palaeomerycidae

The Palaeomerycidae is an extinct family of Neogene ruminants belonging to the infraorder Pecora. Palaeomerycids lived in Europe and Asia exclusively during the Miocene, coevolving with cervids, bovids, moschids, and tragulids there as part of a dramatic radiation of ruminants by the early Miocene.

Palaeomerycidae

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 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
GiraffomorphaPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 28 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 165 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 165 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 12 of 165 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 151 of 165 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 165 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 165 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 4 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 4 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 4 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 6 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 19 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 41 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 32 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 23 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 13 occurrences11–8.9 Mya — about 8 occurrences8.9–7.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.1–5.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.2–3.4 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.4–1.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences33.9 Mya5.333 Mya57 Mya2 Mya

165 occurrences of Palaeomerycidae 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

165 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

46 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°WSheep Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WShanwang — 36.52°N, 118.54°EShanwang — 34.26°N, 108.94°EAral — 46.80°N, 60.58°EAral — 50.30°N, 57.18°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.15°N, 9.88°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.09°N, 10.03°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°ELothidok — 3.22°N, 35.83°EGoliad — 28.34°N, 97.96°WGoliad — 28.49°N, 97.67°WBox Butte — 42.20°N, 103.10°WBox Butte — 42.80°N, 103.10°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WBopesta — 35.19°N, 118.28°WStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.00°EBrackwater Molasse — 48.35°N, 9.86°EBrackwater Molasse — 48.48°N, 10.11°EManchar — 26.33°N, 67.83°ESzurdokpüspöki — 47.93°N, 19.76°Efacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EFleming — 30.61°N, 95.15°WFleming — 30.75°N, 95.27°WMarsland — 42.42°N, 103.87°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°W"middle Miocene" — 41.30°N, 105.10°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 109.00°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WTorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°WEsmeralda — 38.25°N, 117.90°WKramer Beds — 35.05°N, 117.69°W

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The named rock units Palaeomerycidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 22 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 90 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Palaeomerycidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Palaeomerycidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,794 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 141 sites for Palaeomerycidae, 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

99 references

Each of the 165 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. 87 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 Palaeomerycidae

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

No 3D scan of Palaeomerycidae 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 itGiraffomorpha through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lydekker 1883