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Hispanomeryx

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Extinct genus of deer

Hispanomeryx
Temporal range: Middle Miocene–Late Miocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Moschidae
Genus: †Hispanomeryx
Morales, Moyà-Solà, and Soria, 1981
Species

See text

Hispanomeryx is an extinct genus of artiodactyl from the middle to late Miocene epoch, living from 13 to 8 million years ago. Over the years, they have been variously classified as being related to bovids or giraffes, or even belonging to their own unique family, but they are now widely regarded as moschids, relatives of the living musk deer.

Hispanomeryx would have resembled modern musk deer, but was smaller, and some of the teeth in the lower jaw resembled those of bovids, possibly as an adaptation to its diet. Most fossils are known from Spain, but others are known from Turkey to China, most of which are too fragmentary to be assigned to a particular species. Hispanomeryx seems to have been an adaptable species, and to have lived in both subtropical forests and open, relatively arid, savanna.

The following species are known:

  • H. duriensis (type) Morales, Moyà-Solà, and Soria, 1981 - Spain
  • H. andrewsi Sánchez et al., 2011 - China
  • H. aragonensis Azanza, 1986 - Spain
  • H. daamsi Sánchez, Domingo, and Morales, 2010 - Spain
  • H. lacetanus Sánchez et al., 2019 - Spain

References

  1. Sánchez, Israel; Domingo, M. Soledad; Morales, Jorge (September 2010). "The genus Hispanomeryx (Mammalia, Ruminantia, Moschidae) and its bearing on musk deer phylogeny and systematics". Palaeontology. 53 (5): 1023–1047. Bibcode:2010Palgy..53.1023S. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00992.x.
  2. Sánchez, Israel; Demiguel, Daniel; et al. (March 2019). "New Hispanomeryx (Mammalia, Ruminantia, Moschidae) from Spain and a reassessment of the systematics and paleobiology of the genus Hispanomeryx Morales, Moyà-Solà, and Soria, 1981". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 39 (2): e1602536. Bibcode:2019JVPal..39E2536S. doi:10.1080/02724634.2019.1602536. S2CID 196661101.
Taxon identifiers
Hispanomeryx


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