Lagomeryx

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Lagomeryx
Lagomeryx at the Geological Museum of China.jpg

Lagomeryx

Temporal occurrence
Miocene
Locations
  • Europe
  • Asia
Systematics
Mammals (mammalia)
Artiodactyla (Artiodactyla)
Ruminants (ruminantia)
Forehead weapon bearer (Pecora)
insecure position (incertae sedis)
Lagomeryx
Scientific name
Lagomeryx
Roger , 1904

Lagomeryx is an extinct genus of the forehead weapon bearers (Pecora) with an unclear systematic position ( incertae sedis ). The genus is known with several species from the lower to middle Miocene of Europe ( MN3 – MN6 ) and the middle to upper Miocene of Asia.

Etymology and history of research

The genus Lagomeryx was introduced by Otto Roger in 1904 . In doing so, he followed Max Schlosser's suggestion to separate some small- stature species into an independent taxon , which had previously been included in the genus Palaeomeryx described by Hermann von Meyer in 1834 . He named three species ( Lagomeryx meyeri , Lagomeryx parvulus and Lagomeryx pumilio ) as belonging to the genus and described their form of the upper molars, which differed from Palaeomeryx , and the peculiar formation of the antlers. However, Roger did not identify any of the three named species as a type species .

Two of these species ( Lagomeryx parvulus and Lagomeryx pumilio ) had been described a few years earlier by Roger himself as Palaeomeryx parvulus and Palaeomeryx pumilio for the first time .

The research history of the third species named by Roger, Lagomeryx meyeri , can be traced back even further: As early as 1884, Franz Toula described the fossil teeth of a ruminant from a site near Göriach as Dicroceros minimus . In 1893, Adolf Hofmann put the finds from Göriach together with some finds from Reisensburg near Günzburg, already described by Meyer as Palaeomeryx pygmaeus , in a new, unique species, which he named Palaeomeryx meyeri in honor of Hermann von Meyer . Roger took over the fossil material summarized by Hofmann in his new genus as Lagomeryx meyeri and added to the fossil record around 1880 by Ludwig Rütimeyer from the Reisensburg site, which showed the typical arrangement of the antlers, which Roger described as "crow's nest formation". In 1904 Roger assigned the only rest of the antlers known to him at the time to the species Lagomeryx pumilio .

In the 1920s and 1930s, a whole series of similar finds from the Miocene of China were described, some of which were assigned to Lagomeryx , others placed in the musk genus , or integrated into a new genus Stephanocemas , closely related to Lagomeryx (see “ Types and distribution ”).

Ludwig Rütimeyer is the namesake of the type species

In 1948 and 1950 Erich Thenius succeeded in assigning an antler remnant to the teeth described by Toula von Göriach, which, however, showed no resemblance to the antler remains from Reisensburg depicted by Rütimeyer. The evidence summarized under the name Lagomeryx meyeri , according to his analysis, represented the remains of two species of different genera. As a consequence, he declared the taxon Lagomeryx meyeri invalid, described the Styrian finds based on Toula as Euprox minimus and the Swabian evidence as Lagomeryx ruetimeyeri , referring in particular to the antler remains depicted by Rütimeyer as type material. Léonard Ginsburg had meanwhile placed the finds from Göriach in the genus Heteroprox , but later interpreted them as females of Dicrocerus elegans .

In 1977 Volker Fahlbusch also reported that the second remains of antlers that Roger had assigned to the species Lagomeryx pumilio in 1904 could no longer be found and was probably lost in the turmoil towards the end of the Second World War . Thus, none of the three originally named species could be assigned a genus-typical antler remnant.

Irrespective of Thenius' work, Inesa Vislobokova named Lagomeryx meyeri as a type of the genus in 1983 and thus made the chaos perfect. Depending on the point of view, the genus had become either the junior synonym of Dicrocerus or the senior synonym of Euprox or Heteroprox . At this point, however, the names of all four affected genera were already in use and well documented.

To solve the problem, Alan W. Gentry and Elmar PJ Heizmann applied in 1993 to the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature to define the species Lagomeryx ruetimeyeri, introduced by Thenius in 1948, as a type of the genus ("Case 2882"). The motion was put to a vote by the Commission in 1994 and was accepted without a vote against. The result of the vote was published in the same year ("Opinion 1790") and Lagomeryx ruetimeyeri was the official type of the genus and it was finally clearly defined.

In German-language popular scientific literature , the generic name Lagomeryx is sometimes translated as "hare deer". Roger himself does not give an explanation for the choice of the name, but repeatedly mentions the small height of the members of the genus known to him. The word part “ Lago- ” can thus actually be derived from the ancient Greek λᾰγῶς (“ lagôs ”: “hare”). The ending “-meryx” can only be translated as “Hirsch” to a limited extent. In his description of Palaeomeryx, Meyer clearly refers to the term " Μἠρυξ ", which he explains as the "name of a supposedly ruminating fish of the ancients". Lagomeryx could therefore be translated rather as "hare ruminant" or as "ruminant hare".

Types and distribution





 L. manai


   

 L. complicidens



   

 L. tsaidamensis



   

 L. colberti



   

 L. triacuminatus



   

 L. parvulus


   

 L. ruetimeyeri




Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style
Internal systematics of the genus Lagomeryx simplified from Suraprasit et al., 2014.

(According to Kantapon Suraprasit et al. , 2014.)

  • Lagomeryx colberti ( Young , 1937) (= Stephanocemas colberti = Lagomeryx simpsoni = Lagomeryx teilhardi ): Asia (China)
  • Lagomeryx complicidens Young , 1964: Asia (China)
  • Lagomeryx manai Suraprasit , Chaimanee , Bocherens , Chavasseau & Jaeger , 2014: Asia (Thailand)
  • Lagomeryx parvulus ( Roger , 1898): Europe (Germany, France, Austria)
  • Lagomeryx primaevus ( Teilhard , 1926) (= Moschus primaevus ): Asia (China)
  • Lagomeryx pumilio ( Roger , 1898): Europe (Germany)
  • Lagomeryx ruetimeyeri Thenius , 1948: type species; Europe (Germany, Austria)
  • Lagomeryx triacuminatus ( Colbert , 1936) (= Stephanocemas triacuminatus ): Asia (China)
  • Lagomeryx tsaidamensis Bohlin , 1937: Asia (China)

A species originally described as Lagomeryx praestans from the Miocene of France is now classified as an independent genus Ligeromeryx .

The cladogram shows, in a simplified form, the relationships between the individual species within the genus based on the morphology of the forehead weapons. The species Lagomeryx pumilio and Lagomeryx primaevus were not included in the analysis, as no corresponding data are available for them. The other species show the European and Asian species in separate subclades.

features

Antler pole from Lagomeryx parvulus

The representatives of the genus Lagomeryx are particularly characterized by three characteristics that are not known in this form and combination from other forehead weapon carriers .

The upper canine teeth of male individuals are, similar to the musk deer (Moschidae), the deer piglets (Tragulidae), the muntjacs ( Muntiacus ) or the water deer ( Hydropotes inermis ), elongated to tusk-like tusks that protruded over the lower jaw. These canines are flattened laterally, curved backwards and outwards, and have a sharp cutting edge posteriorly .

The molars of Lagomeryx are brachyoselenodont, which means they are low- crowned (brachyodont) and have formed crescent-shaped enamel folds (selenodont) with increasing wear of the cusps . A special feature of the lower premolars and molars is an additional enamel ridge on the posterior slope of the anterior, outer cusp (protoconid) of the chewing surface. However, this “Palaeomeryx fold” is much less pronounced than in the genus Palaeomeryx, which gives it its name . In two species, L. ruetimeyeri and L. parvulus , a first lower premolar (p1) could be detected. This tooth is absent in the other species, just as it is in modern ruminants.

However, the most noticeable feature of the genus is its antler-like forehead weapons. The rose bushes, the bony extensions of the frontal bone that form the base of an antler, are not inclined backwards, as is the case with modern deer, but rise steeply directly above the eye sockets , inclined outwards and are only slightly curved inwards. The “antlers” themselves end in a small shovel from which several upwardly curved rungs extend radially. The surface of these forehead weapons is smooth. A "rose", a wreath-shaped thickening of the antlers at the point of contact with the rose bush, is not present. For a long time it was assumed that the forehead weapons of Lagomeryx , similar to the giraffe-like , were permanently covered by skin and were not periodically discarded. Later, however, it was found that the forehead weapons from Lagomeryx also have the typical features of an antler throwing surface and that the lack of a "rose" does not necessarily indicate a permanently worn "proto-antler".

The animals were physically similar to today's deer piglets. The smallest species, Lagomeryx pumilio , had a body mass of only 1.8 ± 0.2 kg, which would roughly correspond to a rather slender specimen of the small kanchil ( Tragulus kanchil ), the smallest cloven-hoofed species still alive today. Lagomeryx parvulus grew slightly larger with a body mass of 5.8 ± 3.6 kg. Schlosser described this species as being comparable to the “size of a fawn or a strong brown hare .” The type species Lagomeryx ruetimeyeri was still slightly larger than Lagomeryx parvulus . The Asian species of the genus were generally somewhat larger and just exceeded the recent musk deer in size.

External system



 Lagomeryx (†)


   


 Procervulus praelucidus (†)


   

 Procervulus dichotomus (†)


   

 Heteroprox (†)




   


 Eostyloceras (†)


   

 Dicrocerus (†)



   

 Cervinae


   

 Capreolinae






Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style
Systematic position of the genus Lagomeryx in relation to the Cervidae simplified according to Mennecart et al., 2014.

The systematic position of the genus Lagomeryx is unclear. In the course of its research history, the genus was alternately represented as a representative of its own family (Lagomerycidae) within a superfamily Giraffoidea, within a superfamily Cervoidea, or between the giraffe-like and the deer-like, as the genus of the Muntjak deer , or as a representative of an independent subfamily (Lagomerycinae) within the Cervidae interpreted.

A more recent phylogenetic analysis based on the morphology of the bony labyrinth shows the genus as a sister taxon to all other representatives of the Cervidae. The authors of the study leave open, however, whether Lagomeryx is to be regarded as a representative of the parent group of the Cervidae or represents a sister taxon closely related to the Cervidae. Belonging to the crown group of the Cervidae is considered unlikely. The cladogram opposite shows the result of this analysis in a greatly simplified form.

Paleecology

The low-crowned molars of Lagomeryx indicate a predominantly leaf-eating diet. However, an at least partially omnivorous diet is also conceivable, similar to that of recent stag piglets.

Recent ruminants of this size usually inhabit the undergrowth of wooded habitats. They are mostly active at night or at dusk and mostly live alone or in only small family groups. As a first approximation, the same can be assumed for Lagomeryx . Comparisons of the isotope signatures δ 13 C and δ 18 O in the enamel of L. parvulus , L. pumilio and L. manai indicate that the small European species preferred forest habitats with largely closed canopies, while the Thai species preferred in a forest area with a more open canopy Lived canopy and / or rather arid conditions.

However, it should not be forgotten that at least the European species, even together, could inhabit different habitats. In southern Germany these are, on the one hand, the rather humid Miocene forests of the northern Alpine Molasse basin and, on the other hand, the, even then, rather drier karst plateau of the Franconian Alb . An analysis of the signs of wear on the Lagomeryx molars from different sites showed that both L. parvulus and L. pumilio mainly fed on soft leaves and buds in the wet forests of the Molasse Basin and only a small percentage relied on highly abrasive grasses . In the case of finds from the karst areas, however, there were clear differences in the feeding behavior of the two species with regard to the signs of wear. While no significant differences were found in the fossils of L. parvulus , the teeth of L. pumilio for the karst regions showed evidence of a significantly increased proportion of grasses in the food spectrum.

literature

  • HG Stehlin: Remarks on the miocaene stag genera Stephanocemas and Lagomeryx. Natural History Society Basel, 1937

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d O. Roger: Vertebrate remains from the Obermiocän of the Bavarian-Swabian plateau. In: Reports of the natural science association for Swabia, Augsburg , Volume 36, 1904, pp. 1–21, ( digitized version ).
  2. ↑ a b c O. Roger: Vertebrate remains from the Dinotheriensande of the Bavarian-Swabian plateau. In: Reports of the natural science association for Swabia, Augsburg , Volume 33, 1898, pp. 1-46, ( digitized version ).
  3. ↑ A. Hofmann: The fauna of Göriach. In: Treatises of the Kaiserlich-Königliche Geologische Reichsanstalt , Volume 15, Number 6, 1893, pp. 1–87, ( digitized version )
  4. ^ L. Rütimeyer: Contributions to a natural history of the deer. In: Treatises of the Swiss Palaeontological Society , Volume 7, 1880, Plate 1, Fig. 2–5, ( digitized version )
  5. ↑ a b E. Thenius: About an ethnically interesting stage in the history of the deer. In: Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathemathisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse , Volume 14, 1948, pp. 219-254.
  6. ^ E. Thenius: The tertiary Lagomeryciden and Cerviden der Steiermark - Contributions to the knowledge of the mammalian remains of the Styrian Tertiary V. In: Session reports of the Academy of Sciences, mathematical-natural science class , Volume 159, 1950, pp. 219-254, ( digitized ).
  7. ↑ a b c d AW Gentry & EPJ Heizmann: Case 2882: Lagomeryx Roger, 1904 (Mammalia, Artiodactyla): proposed designation of L. ruetimeyeri Thenius, 1948 as the type species. In: The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature , Volume 50, Number 2, 1993, pp. 133-136, ( digitized ).
  8. ↑ V. Fahlbusch: The Upper Miocene Fossil Deposit Sandelzhausen 11. A new dwarf deer antler: Lagomeryx pumilio? In: Communications of the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Historical Geology , Volume 17, 1977, pp. 227-233, ( digitized version ).
  9. ↑ ICZN: Opinion 1790 - Lagomeryx Roger, 1904 (Mammalia, Artiodactyla): Lagomeryx ruetimeyeri Thenius, 1948 designated as the type species. In: The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature , Volume 51, Number 3, 1994, p. 290, ( digitized ).
  10. ^ VJ Sach: The tertiary in the district of Biberach - an interplay between sea and land. In: BC - Heimatkundliche Blätter for the district of Biberach , Volume 26, Issue 1, 2003, pp. 68–78, ( digitized version ).
  11. ↑ H. v. Meyer: The fossil teeth and bones and their deposition in the area of ​​Georgensgmünd in Bavaria. Verlag Johann David Sauerländer, Frankfurt am Main, 1834, p. 92, ( digitized version ).
  12. ↑ a b c d e K. Suraprasit, Y. Chaimanee, H. Bocherens, O. Chavasseau & J.-J. Jaeger: Systematics and phylogeny of middle Miocene Cervidae (Mammalia) from Mae Moh Basin (Thailand) and a paleoenvironmental estimate using enamel isotopy of sympatric herbivore species. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology , Volume 34, Number 1, 2014, pp. 179-194, ( digitized ).
  13. ↑ a b B.-S. Chow & M.-C. Shih: A skull of Lagomeryx from middle Miocene of Linchu, Shantung. In: Vertebrata PalAsiatica , Volume 16, Number 2, 1978, pp. 111-122, ( digitized version )
  14. ↑ a b C.-C. Young: On a new Lagomeryx from Lantian, Shensi. In: Vertebrata PalAsiatica , Volume 8, 1964, pp. 329-340, ( digitized version ).
  15. ^ IA Vislobokova: Fossil deer of Mongolia. In: Trudy Sovmestnaya Sovetsko-Mongol'skaya Paleontologicheskaya Ekspeditsiya , Volume 23, 1983, pp. 1-75.
  16. ^ EH Colbert: Tertiary Deer Discovered by the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions. In: American Museum Novitates , number 854, 1936, pp. 1–21, ( digitized version ).
  17. ↑ B. Bohlin: A tertiary mammal fauna from Tsaidam. In: Sino-Swedish Expedition Publication - Palaeontologia Sinica , Series C, Volume 14, Number 1, 1937, pp. 3–111, ( digitized version ).
  18. ^ B. Azanza & L. Ginsburg: A Revision of the Large Lagomerycid Artiodactyls of Europe. In: Palaeontology , Volume 40, 1997, pp. 461-485, ( digitized ).
  19. ↑ a b c d e f g h GE Rössner: Systematics and palaeoecology of Ruminantia (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) from the Miocene of Sandelzhausen (southern Germany, Northern Alpine Foreland Basin). In: Paläontologische Zeitschrift , Volume 84, Number 1, 2010, pp. 123–162, ( digitized version ).
  20. ↑ NS Heckeberg: antlers or antlers? - Proof of the first shed antlers. In: Friends of the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Historical Geology Munich eV - Annual Report 2017 and Communications , Volume 46, 2017, pp. 67–76, ( digitized version ).
  21. ↑ M. Schlosser: New finds of fossil mammals in the Eichstätter area. In: Treatises of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences - Mathematical-Physical Class , Volume 28, 6th Treatise, 1916, p. 16, ( digitized version )
  22. ^ W. Dong: The Fossil Records of Deer in China. In: N. Ohtaishi & H.-I. Sheng (Ed.): Deer of China: Biology and Management - Proceedings of the International Symposium on Deer of China, held in Shanghai, China, November 21-23, 1992 , Elsevier, 1993, ISBN 978-0-444-81540-8 , Pp. 95-102, ( digitized version ).
  23. ↑ a b B. Mennecart, D. DeMiguel, F. Bibi, GE Rössner, G. Métais, JM Neenan, S. Wang, G. Schulz, B. Müller & L. Costeur: Bony labyrinth morphology clarifies the origin and evolution of deer. In: Nature - Scientific Reports , Volume 7, 2017, Article 13176, doi : 10.1038 / s41598-017-12848-9 .
  24. ↑ GE Pilgrim: The dispersal of the Artiodactyla. In: Biological Reviews , Volume 16, 1941, pp. 134-163.
  25. ^ P. Teilhard de Chardin: The Miocene Cervids from Shantung. In: Bulletin of the Geological Society of China , Volume 19, 1939, pp. 269-278, ( digitized ).
  26. ↑ IA Vislobokova, H. & S. Changkang Bo: On the Systematic Position of the Lagomerycinae. In: Vertebrata Palasiatica , Volume 27, 1989, pp. 128-132, ( digitized ).
  27. ↑ a b GE Rössner: Vertebrates from the Lower Miocene of the Oberdorf lignite opencast mine (West Styrian Basin, Austria): 9. Ruminantia (Mammalia). In: Annals of the Natural History Museum in Vienna , Series A, Volume 99, 1998, pp. 169–193, ( digitized version ).
  28. ↑ TM Kaiser & GE Rössner: Dietary resource partitioning in ruminant communities of Miocene wetland and karst palaeoenvironments in Southern Germany. In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology , Volume 252, 2007, pp. 424-439, ( digitized version ).

Remarks

  1. ↑ Roger wrongly assigns this work to Hermann von Meyer, but otherwise cites it correctly. In fact, it comes from Ludwig Rütimeyer, who published several works on the “natural history of deer” between 1880 and 1883. Hermann von Meyer, however, had died in 1869.
  2. ↑ Of the 29 eligible voters of the commission, there were 26 approvals and three abstentions, one of them due to absence.
  3. ↑ Whether Roger wanted to allude to the “ruminating rabbit” of the Bible (Leviticus 11: 6 and Deuteronomy 14: 7) with his choice of the generic name cannot be proven.
  4. ↑ Colbert originally wanted to call the genus Stephanoceras . Teilhard pointed out to him, however, that this name was already occupied by a genus of ammonites . Since Colbert's manuscript had already gone to press, he had an erratum inserted after which the term Stephanoceras was to be replaced by Stephanocemas throughout .

Web links

Commons : Lagomeryx  - collection of images, videos and audio files