Mammalia - Artiodactyla - Merycoidodontidae
Alternative combinations: Merychyus arenarum minimus, Merychyus elegans minimus
Synonym: Merychyus delicatus Loomis 1924
Full reference: O. A. Peterson. 1907. The Miocene Beds of Western Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming and Their Vertebrate Faunae. Annals of Carnegie Museum 4(3):21-72
Belongs to Merychyus according to M. S. Stevens et al. 2023
See also Kelly and Lander 1988, Lander 1998, Loomis 1924, Macdonald 1963, Macdonald 1970, Peterson 1907, Schultz and Falkenbach 1947 and Thorpe 1937
Sister taxa: Merychyus (Metoreodon), Merychyus arenarum, Merychyus calaminthus, Merychyus elegans, Merychyus relictus, Merychyus verrucomalus
Type specimens:
- Merychyus minimus: CM 1466, a partial skeleton (the skull, lower jaws, fragments of vertebrre, limbs, and a fore foot). Its type locality is Niobrara Canyon, which is in a Harrisonian terrestrial horizon in the Marsland Formation of Nebraska.
- Merychyus delicatus: Its type locality is AMNH Rosebud 17, which is in a Harrisonian terrestrial horizon in the Rosebud Formation of South Dakota.
Ecology: ground dwelling herbivore
Distribution:
• Miocene of Mexico (1 collection), United States (4: California, Nebraska)
• Harrisonian of United States (21: California, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming)
• Arikareean of United States (1: Oregon)
Total: 27 collections each including a single occurrence
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.