Dorcatherium

Dorcatherium Temporal range: Miocene, Possibly Pliocene
File:Dorcatherium 1.JPG
Dorcatherium naui skeleton, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Tragulidae
Genus:	†Dorcatherium Johann Jakob Kaup, 1833
Type species
†Dorcatherium naui Kaup & Scholl, 1834
Other species
†Dorcatherium guntianum von Meyer, 1846 Lydekker, 1876 Arambourg & Piveteau, 1929 Hamilton, 1973 †Dorcatherium minimus †Dorcatherium pigotti West, 1980 †Dorcatherium jourdani Whitworth, 1958 Qiu Zhanxiang & Gu Yumin, 1991 †Dorcatherium maliki †Dorcatherium bulgaricum? Kostopoulos & Sen, 2016 †Dorcatherium majus Déperet, 1887 Bakalov & Nikolov, 1962 Guzmán, Sandoval & Rössner, 2021 †Dorcatherium nagrii †Dorcatherium puyhauberti Prasad, 1970 †Dorcatherium dehmi †Dorcatherium orientale †Dorcatherium libiensis

Dorcatherium is an extinct genus of tragulid ruminant which existed in Europe, East Africa, and the Siwaliks during the Miocene and possibly Pliocene.

• Dorcatherium sp. by Mauricio Anton
  Dorcatherium sp. by Mauricio Anton
• Dorcatherium minus jaw fragments, Natural History Museum, London
  Dorcatherium minus jaw fragments, Natural History Museum, London
• Dorcatherium crassum Left Hemi Mandible MHNT
  Dorcatherium crassum Left Hemi Mandible MHNT
• Dorcatherium guntianum Left Hemi Mandible MHNT
  Dorcatherium guntianum Left Hemi Mandible MHNT

Palaeoecology

D. naui was partially frugivorous, the evidence for this being its dental enamel's ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, δ¹⁸O_CO3, and δ¹³C values. The dental microwear and mesowear of D. naui provides further evidence that it was a frugivorous browser. At the Middle Miocene site of Maboko in Kenya, D. pigotti displays relatively high δ¹³C values, probably indicative of feeding in less wooded environments than modern tragulids, while the δ¹³C values of D. chappuisi at the same site were even higher, suggesting a preference for even more open and arid habitats than D. pigotti.