Merycodus
{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = Miocene
| image = Merycodus warreni pair.jpg
| image_caption = Male and female M. warreni
| taxon = Merycodus
| authority = Leidy, 1854
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
- M. crusensis
- M. hookwayi
- M. joraki
- M. major
- M. minimus
- M. minor
- M. necatus
- M. nenzelensis
- M. prodromus
- M. sabulonis
- M. warreni
| synonyms =
Meryceros
Submeryceros
}}
Merycodus is an extinct genus of the artiodactyl family Antilocapridae.{{Cite web |url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/handle/2246/1513//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/bul/B020a07.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-09-05 |archive-date=2012-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919040803/http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/handle/2246/1513//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/bul/B020a07.pdf?sequence=1 |url-status=dead }} Fossils of this genus have been found in the Santa Fe Group of New Mexico.{{cite journal |last1=Galusha |first1=Ted |last2=Blick |first2=John C. |title=Stratigraphy of the Santa Fe Group, New Mexico |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |date=1971 |volume=144 |issue=1 |url=https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/1633/B144a01.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |accessdate=13 May 2020}}
Taxonomy
Merycodus has had a confusing taxonomic history. The closely related Meryceros and Submeryceros are generally regarded as synonymous with Merycodus.{{cite book |last1=Prothero |first1=Donald R. |title=The Evolution of Artiodactyls |date=2007 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=9780801887352 |page=232}} One described species known as Merycodus grandis has now been reclassified as a species of Prosynthetoceras.{{cite book |title=The Texas Journal of Science: Volume 19 |date=1967 |publisher=Texas Academy of Science.}} Another former species, M. furcatus is now placed in Cosoryx.
Description
File:Merycodus cf. nectatus - National Museum of Natural History - IMG 2024.JPG
Merycodus had relatively short horn shafts with tines of nearly equal size that were about as long as the shaft. Species traditionally included in Meryceros had horns that were generally larger and more laterally compressed.{{cite book |last1=Janis |first1=Kathleen M. |title=Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America: Volume 1, Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulate Like Mammals |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=496}}
References
{{Commons category}}
{{Portal|Paleontology}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q6820970}}
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Category:Prehistoric Artiodactyla genera
Category:Prehistoric pronghorns
Category:Miocene mammals of North America
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