Morenelaphus

Morenelaphus is an extinct genus of deer that lived in South America during the Late Pleistocene.[1] Fossils of the genus have been recovered from the Agua Blanca, Fortín Tres Pozos and Luján Formations of Argentina, the Ñuapua Formation of Bolivia, Santa Vitória do Palmar in southern Brazil, Paraguay and the Sopas Formation of Uruguay.[2]

Morenelaphus
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene (Lujanian)
~0.8–0.011 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Subphylum:
Vertebrata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Artiodactyla
Family:
Cervidae
Subfamily:
Capreolinae or Odocoileinae
Genus:
†Morenelaphus

Carette 1922
Binomial name
Morenelaphus brachyceros

Tooth enamel microwear analysis suggests Morenelaphus had a mixed-feeder diet, including grass and perhaps with the occasional ingestion of gritstone. It is believed that this genus went extinct during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition due to climate change and a nutritional crisis.[3]

References
  1. Vrba, Elisabeth S.; Schaller, George B. (eds.). Antelopes, Deer, and Relatives: Fossil Record, Behavioral Ecology, Systematics, and Conservation. Yale University Press. p. 55. ISBN 9780300127768.
  2. Morenelaphus at Fossilworks.org
  3. Alinne Rotti; Dimila Mothé; Leonardo dos Santos Avilla; Gina M. Semprebon (15 May 2018). "Diet reconstruction for an extinct deer (Cervidae: Cetartiodactyla) from the Quaternary of South America". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 497: 244–252. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.02.026.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.