Merycoidodontidae

Merycoidodontoidea, informally known as "oreodonts" or "ruminating hogs," are an extinct superfamily of prehistoric cud-chewing artiodactyls with short faces and fang-like canine teeth. As their name implies, some of the better known forms were generally hog-like in stature, and the group has traditionally been placed within the Suina, though some recent work suggests they may have been more closely related to camels. "Oreodont" means "mountain teeth," referring to the multi-peaked appearance of their molars.

Merycoidodontidae

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
Also called
oreodontPBDB
Sits inside
TylopodaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37 Mya to 9.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 4.7 Mya.

Eocene — about 104 of 1415 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 640 of 1415 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 671 of 1415 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 1415 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–38 Mya — about 3 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 11 occurrences37–35 Mya — about 40 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 40 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 110 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 126 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 73 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 68 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 53 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 56 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 58 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 57 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 59 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 74 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 74 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 74 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 78 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 81 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 55 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 48 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 48 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 41 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 40 occurrences10–9.0 Mya — about 29 occurrences9.0–7.8 Mya — about 6 occurrences7.8–6.5 Mya — about 6 occurrences6.5–5.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences37 Mya9.4 Mya41.8 Mya4 Mya

1,415 occurrences of Merycoidodontidae 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

1,415 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

100 formations

Brule — 42.90°N, 105.20°WBrule — 43.50°N, 101.90°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 46.90°N, 102.80°WBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WBrule — 41.80°N, 103.80°WBrule — 43.00°N, 104.50°WBrule — 43.85°N, 102.50°WBrule — 43.71°N, 102.58°WBrule — 43.60°N, 102.45°WBrule — 46.40°N, 103.30°WBrule — 41.70°N, 103.10°WBrule — 42.70°N, 102.50°WBrule — 42.00°N, 104.20°WJohn Day — 44.60°N, 119.62°WJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.65°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.76°N, 121.26°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 121.30°WJohn Day — 44.50°N, 119.30°WJohn Day — 44.83°N, 119.76°WJohn Day — 44.83°N, 119.74°WJohn Day — 44.33°N, 119.57°WJohn Day — 44.79°N, 119.58°WJohn Day — 45.08°N, 119.87°WJohn Day — 44.95°N, 120.49°WJohn Day — 44.55°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.92°N, 120.30°WJohn Day — 43.98°N, 120.25°WJohn Day — 44.66°N, 120.27°WGering — 41.30°N, 105.10°WGering — 41.70°N, 103.10°WGering — 41.80°N, 103.80°WGering — 41.50°N, 103.80°WGering — 43.00°N, 104.50°WGering — 41.40°N, 102.40°WHarrison — 43.30°N, 102.50°WHarrison — 42.00°N, 104.20°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WHarrison — 43.00°N, 104.50°WHarrison — 42.80°N, 100.80°WHarrison — 42.20°N, 103.10°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 100.87°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.39°N, 98.10°WAsh Hollow — 42.60°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 100.00°WAsh Hollow — 41.20°N, 101.80°WAsh Hollow — 43.20°N, 100.70°WAsh Hollow — 41.70°N, 103.10°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 105.10°WAsh Hollow — 43.20°N, 99.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 102.50°WSharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°WSharps — 43.50°N, 101.90°WSharps — 43.90°N, 102.40°WRunningwater — 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°WValentine — 42.49°N, 98.11°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.70°N, 102.50°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 40.10°N, 98.50°WValentine — 42.60°N, 98.00°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWhite River — 40.80°N, 103.10°WWhite River — 42.00°N, 104.20°WWhite River — 40.97°N, 106.22°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WMarsland — 42.42°N, 103.87°WMarsland — 42.10°N, 105.00°WMarsland — 42.00°N, 104.20°WMarsland — 42.62°N, 104.40°WMarsland — 43.00°N, 104.50°WChadron — 43.60°N, 102.45°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 — 43.20°N, 103.20°WChadron — 45.47°N, 112.62°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°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°WArikaree — 47.40°N, 102.80°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 107.10°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 108.20°WArikaree — 45.37°N, 103.17°WSespe — 34.30°N, 119.00°WSespe — 33.83°N, 117.79°WSespe — 33.83°N, 117.71°WSespe — 33.73°N, 117.72°WRosebud — 43.20°N, 100.70°WRosebud — 43.18°N, 102.30°WRosebud — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WBarstow — 35.05°N, 117.07°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WCypress Hills — 49.80°N, 109.00°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 109.00°WSheep Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WCaliente — 35.10°N, 120.00°WCaliente — 34.30°N, 119.00°WTesuque — 36.50°N, 107.00°WTesuque — 35.50°N, 106.20°WDelaho — 29.20°N, 103.20°WDelaho — 29.12°N, 103.48°WMascall — 44.70°N, 121.20°WMascall — 44.50°N, 119.30°WMascall — 44.00°N, 120.13°WMascall — 44.52°N, 119.67°WMascall — 44.92°N, 120.18°WMonroe Creek — 43.30°N, 102.50°WMonroe Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Merycoidodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 76 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 351 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Merycoidodontidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Merycoidodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

591 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 913 sites for Merycoidodontidae, and this reads 240 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

207 references

Each of the 1,415 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. 195 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 Merycoidodontidae

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

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 itTylopoda through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cook 1912