Leptomerycidae

Leptomerycidae is an extinct family of ruminants endemic to North America during the middle Eocene to middle Miocene, making it the longest-living group of ruminants on the continent. Members of the group are medium sized mammals similar in shape to the modern mouse deer, a group which it has been suggested to have been related to, but there were a number of differences. These would mostly be present in the skull with these animals heavily reducing their canines, in contrast to the large canines seen in their relatives. Similar to their overall body shape, members of the family are generally compared to mouse deer in ecology with them also being suggested to be small nocturnal browsers.

Leptomerycidae

Internet Archive Book Images · No restrictions · 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
PecoraPBDB
Diet
frugivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 39.7 Mya to 16.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 45.9 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Eocene — about 115 of 226 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 83 of 226 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 28 of 226 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 226 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 6 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 10 occurrences37–35 Mya — about 47 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 47 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 35 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 25 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 11 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 5 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 4 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 4 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 4 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 7 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–8.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–4.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences39.7 Mya16.3 Mya46.7 Mya4.5 Mya

226 occurrences of Leptomerycidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

226 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

31 formations

Brule — 42.90°N, 105.20°WBrule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 46.90°N, 102.80°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WBrule — 43.85°N, 102.50°WBrule — 46.40°N, 103.30°WBrule — 43.50°N, 101.90°WBrule — 42.85°N, 103.82°WBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBrule — 43.80°N, 103.10°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWhite River — 40.80°N, 103.10°WWhite River — 41.80°N, 107.00°WWhite River — 40.97°N, 106.22°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WChadron — 42.40°N, 103.80°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.10°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.40°WChadron — 42.90°N, 105.20°WChadron — 45.47°N, 112.62°WChadron — 46.10°N, 103.30°WChadron — 45.50°N, 103.10°WChadron — 42.75°N, 103.65°WRenova — 45.00°N, 112.80°WRenova — 45.20°N, 112.00°WRenova — 46.00°N, 112.00°WRenova — 45.90°N, 112.25°WRenova — 46.40°N, 112.80°WRenova — 46.65°N, 113.05°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WCypress Hills — 49.80°N, 109.00°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WSharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WCook Ranch — 45.00°N, 112.80°WClimbing Arrow — 46.00°N, 112.00°WClimbing Arrow — 45.93°N, 111.62°WWagon Bed ("Tepee Trail") — 43.20°N, 107.10°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.28°WSage Creek — 45.00°N, 112.80°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.90°N, 104.20°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.20°N, 103.20°WChambers Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 121.30°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 119.63°WFleming — 30.50°N, 95.00°WFleming — 31.10°N, 93.10°WDunbar Creek — 45.70°N, 111.00°WHogeye Tuff — 31.50°N, 105.20°WNorwood Tuff — 41.10°N, 111.40°WKishenehn — 49.10°N, 114.50°WPreitos — 29.80°N, 104.50°WTitus Canyon — 36.83°N, 117.02°WGering — 41.70°N, 103.10°W

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The named rock units Leptomerycidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 50 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Leptomerycidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Leptomerycidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,242 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 184 sites for Leptomerycidae, 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

81 references

Each of the 226 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. 69 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 Leptomerycidae

Credit
Internet Archive Book Images
Licence
No restrictions
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Leptomerycidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itPecora through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Zittel 1893)