Micromeryx

Micromeryx is an extinct genus of musk deer that lived in the middle and upper Miocene (about 12-8 million years ago). Fossil remains were found in Europe and Asia.[3]

Micromeryx
Temporal range: Miocene
Male Micromeryx skeleton, Museum am Löwentor, Stuttgart, Germany
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Moschidae
Genus: †Micromeryx
Lartet, 1851
Species

M. flourensianus Lartet 1851
M. azanzae Sánchez and Morales 2008
M.? eiselei Aiglstorfer at al. 2017[1][2]

Restoration of Micromeryx, male specimen

Characteristics

This animal was very similar to the modern musk deer (Moschus moschiferus) of East Asia. However, Micromeryx (its name means "tiny ruminant") was much smaller: it perhaps reached 5 kilograms. Teeth were very similar to those of the extant Cephalophus but more primitive. Like in the present moschids, the males of these animals were equipped with long upper canines, protruding from the mouth when it was closed. The body was slender and short, while the legs were extremely elongated.[3]

Systematics

Micromeryx was a primitive representative of the moschids, a group of primitive ruminants related to deer and cattle. They had a remarkable expansion during the Miocene and Pliocene and are currently represented by a few species, such as the aforementioned Moschus moschiferus. Micromeryx probably originated in Western Asia and then spread to Europe and East Asia. Many fossils of this animal have been found in a vast geographical area ranging from Anatolia (Turkey) to Spain and China. A somewhat similar animal was Hispanomeryx, which lived in about the same area but went extinct during the middle Miocene.[3]

Further reading

References
  1. Manuela Aiglstorfer, Loïc Costeur, Bastien Mennecart, Elmar P. J. Heizmann: Micromeryx? eiselei — A new moschid species from Steinheim am Albuch, Germany, and the first comprehensive description of moschid cranial material from the Miocene of Central Europe, in: PLOS One vom 16. Oktober 2017, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185679
  2. Aiglstorfer at al.: 3D models related to the publication: Micromeryx? eiselei - a new moschid species from Steinheim am Albuch, Germany, and the first comprehensive description of moschid cranial material from the Miocene of Central Europe, PDF
  3. Sánchez, I. M.; Morales, J. (2008). "Micromeryx azanzae sp. nov. (Ruminantia: Moschidae) from the middle-upper Miocene of Spain, and the first description of the cranium of Micromeryx". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 28 (3): 873–885. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[873:MASNRM]2.0.CO;2.
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