Merychyus

Merychyus is an extinct genus of oreodont of the family Merycoidodontidae, endemic to North America. It lived during the Miocene, 20.4—10.3 mya, existing for approximately 10 million years. Fossils are widespread through the central and western United States.

Merychyus

Daderot · CC0 · 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
MerychyinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Merycoidodontidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Merycoidodontidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 6.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 18.5 Mya to 11.63 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 29.5 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Oligocene — about 12 of 176 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 164 of 176 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 176 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 8 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 10 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 10 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 10 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 10 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 13 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 21 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 21 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 11 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 6 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 6 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 6 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 6 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 6 occurrences9.9–9.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences9.0–8.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences8.2–7.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences7.3–6.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.5–5.7 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.7–4.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18.5 Mya11.63 Mya30 Mya4.8 Mya

176 occurrences of Merychyus on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

176 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

38 formations

Runningwater — 42.80°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 41.70°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.49°N, 102.96°WRunningwater — 42.20°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.80°N, 100.80°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WMarsland — 42.10°N, 105.00°WMarsland — 42.00°N, 104.20°WMarsland — 42.62°N, 104.40°WMarsland — 43.00°N, 104.50°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.76°N, 121.26°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 121.30°WRosebud — 43.18°N, 102.30°WRosebud — 43.30°N, 102.50°WSheep Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WHarrison — 43.00°N, 104.50°WHarrison — 42.80°N, 100.80°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WHarrison — 42.20°N, 103.10°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WDelaho — 29.20°N, 103.20°WDelaho — 29.11°N, 103.47°WArikaree — 47.40°N, 102.80°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 107.10°WArikaree — 45.37°N, 103.17°WTick Canyon — 34.50°N, 118.40°WJuntura — 43.60°N, 117.50°WSespe — 33.83°N, 117.79°WSespe — 33.83°N, 117.71°WSespe — 33.73°N, 117.72°WHector — 34.80°N, 117.00°WGoliad — 28.53°N, 97.74°WColter — 43.90°N, 110.80°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WKramer Beds — 35.05°N, 117.69°WZia Sand — 35.70°N, 107.00°WVaqueros — 33.78°N, 117.73°WDiligencia — 33.55°N, 115.66°WBatesland — 43.13°N, 101.87°WPawnee Creek — 40.90°N, 103.28°W

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The named rock units Merychyus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 14 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 41 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Merychyus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Merychyus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

651 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 164 sites for Merychyus, 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

51 references

Each of the 176 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. 39 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 content2

Picture of Merychyus

Credit
Daderot
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itMerychyinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leidy 1858