Morenelaphus
Appearance
Morenelaphus | |
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Genus: | †Morenelaphus Carette 1922
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Binomial name | |
Morenelaphus brachyceros |
Morenelaphus is an extinct genus of deer that lived in South America during the Late Pleistocene.[1] Fossils of the genus have been recovered from the Agua Blanca, Fortín Tres Pozos and Luján Formations of Argentina, the Ñuapua Formation of Bolivia, Santa Vitória do Palmar in southern Brazil, Paraguay and the Sopas Formation of Uruguay.[2]
Tooth enamel microwear analysis suggests Morenelaphus had a mixed-feeder diet, including grass and perhaps with the occasional ingestion of gritstone. It is believed that this genus went extinct during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition due to climate change and a nutritional crisis.[3]
References
- ^ Vrba, Elisabeth S.; Schaller, George B. (eds.). Antelopes, Deer, and Relatives: Fossil Record, Behavioral Ecology, Systematics, and Conservation. Yale University Press. p. 55. ISBN 9780300127768.
- ^ Morenelaphus at Fossilworks.org
- ^ Alinne Rotti; Dimila Mothé; Leonardo dos Santos Avilla; Gina M. Semprebon (15 May 2018). "Diet reconstruction for an extinct deer (Cervidae: Cetartiodactyla) from the Quaternary of South America". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 497: 244–252. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.02.026.
Categories:
- Prehistoric deer
- Pleistocene even-toed ungulates
- Pleistocene mammals of South America
- Lujanian
- Pleistocene Argentina
- Fossils of Argentina
- Pleistocene Bolivia
- Fossils of Bolivia
- Pleistocene Brazil
- Fossils of Brazil
- Pleistocene Paraguay
- Fossils of Paraguay
- Pleistocene Uruguay
- Fossils of Uruguay
- Fossil taxa described in 1922
- Prehistoric mammal stubs