PBDB Taxon

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Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Archaeomerycidae

Mammalia - Archaeomerycidae

Taxonomy

Archaeomerycidae was named by Simpson (1945).

It was assigned to Traguloidea by Vislobokova (2001); and to Ruminantia by Métais (2006).

Subtaxa

Archaeomeryx, Irrawadymeryx, Miomeryx, Notomeryx, Paukkaungmeryx, Xinjiangmeryx

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1945	Archaeomerycidae Simpson
2001	Archaeomerycidae Vislobokova p. S134
2006	Archaeomerycidae Métais

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha

Rank	Name	Author
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Boreoeutheria
—	Laurasiatheria
—	Scrotifera
—	Euungulata
—	Artiodactylamorpha
—	Artiodactyla	()
—	Ruminantiamorpha
—	Ruminantia	(Scopoli 1777)
infraorder	Tragulina
superfamily	Traguloidea
family	Archaeomerycidae	Simpson 1945
family	Archaeomerycidae	Simpson 1945

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Fm. †Archaeomerycidae Simpson 1945

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G. †Archaeomeryx Matthew and Granger 1925

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†Archaeomeryx optatus Matthew and Granger 1925

G. †Irrawadymeryx Métais et al. 2007

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†Irrawadymeryx pondaungi Métais et al. 2007

G. †Miomeryx Matthew and Granger 1925

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†Miomeryx altaicus Matthew and Granger 1925

G. †Notomeryx Qiu 1978

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†Notomeryx besensis Qiu 1978

Invalid names: Indomeryx youjiangensis Qiu 1978 [synonym]

†Notomeryx major Guo et al. 1999

G. †Paukkaungmeryx Ducrocq et al. 2020

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†Paukkaungmeryx minutus Ducrocq et al. 2020

G. †Xinjiangmeryx Zheng 1978

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†Xinjiangmeryx parvus Zheng 1978

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
I. A. Vislobokova 2001	Skull brachycephalic with very short snout. Sagittal, temporal, and occipital crests strong. Sagittal crest long. Temporal crests curved ante- riorly and joined close to coronal suture. Orbits small,. placed centrally, and closed posteriorly. Postorbital bar formed half of frontal and half of jugal. Parietal foram- ina small. Foramen ovale small, placed posteriorly. Mastoid exposure mainly lateral. Auditory bulla very small without contact with postglenoid process. Exter- nal meatus weakly developed. Stylohyoid vagina extremely shallow, very widely open posteriorly. Petro- sal small, short, and broad, set closer to horizontal plane than to parasagittal one, and pressed closely against basioccipital; anteroventral border of petrosal placed far from postglenoid process. Promontorium weak, short, corresponding to main whorl of cochlea. Fenestra vestibuli small. Tensor tympani fossa small and located posteriorly. Behind fenestrae vestibuli and cochleae, stapedial muscle fossa narrow. Epitympanic recess on petrosal. Lacrimal with small facial and orbital parts. Lacrimal foramen within orbit. Ethmoidal fissure small and triangUlar or absent. Nasals elongated, not projecting anteriorly above anterior opening of nasal cavity. Palate flattened. Median concavity of pal- ate a little behind M3. Posterior opening of infraorbital canal placed in maxilla. Anterior opening of nasal cav- ity ovoid in dorsal view. Angular process of mandible narrow and strongly projecting posteriorly. Upper inci- sors very small. Canines small and procumbent, lower canine spatulate. PI absent. Forelimbs shorter than hindlimbs. Radius and ulna, tibia and fibula, and central metapodials separate. Fibula strongly reduced but os malleolus incompletely developed. Astragalus elon- gated and tripulley, with nonparallel trochleae. Metapo- dials separate. Manus pentadactyl. Pes tetradactyl.

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

terrestrialo

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Life habit:

ground dwellingo

Diet:

grazero

Diet 2:

browsero

Reproduction:

viviparoussubc

Created:

2005-08-26 14:03:05

Modified:

2005-09-19 12:23:23

Source: o = order, subc = subclass, c = class, subp = subphylum

References: Lillegraven 1979, Carroll 1988, Nowak 1999, Hendy et al. 2009

Age range: base of the Bartonian to the top of the Late/Upper Oligocene or 41.03000 to 23.04000 Ma

Collections (22 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Middle Eocene	48.07 - 37.71	China (Nei Mongol)	Archaeomeryx optatus (174962) Archaeomeryx sp. (28786)
Middle Eocene	48.07 - 37.71	China (Jiangsu)	Archaeomeryx sp. (37493)
Bartonian	41.03 - 37.71	Myanmar	Irrawadymeryx pondaungi (41180) Paukkaungmeryx minutus (41393)
Late/Upper Eocene	37.71 - 33.9	China (Yunnan)	Miomeryx sp. (182580)
Late/Upper Eocene	37.71 - 33.9	China (Guangxi)	Indomeryx youjiangensis (176375) Notomeryx besensis (176324 176373 176376 176378 176379) Notomeryx besensis, Indomeryx youjiangensis (176326) Notomeryx major (176372 176377)
Late/Upper Eocene	37.71 - 33.9	Mongolia	Miomeryx altaicus (73781)
Priabonian	37.71 - 33.9	Japan (Fukushima)	Notomeryx sp. (180395)
Early/Lower Oligocene	33.9 - 27.3	Mongolia (Övörkhangai)	Miomeryx sp. (75595 175169 180955)
Late/Upper Oligocene	27.3 - 23.04	Kazakhstan	Miomeryx sp. (64413 74900)