Morenelaphus
| Morenelaphus | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Cervidae |
| Subfamily: | Capreolinae |
| Genus: | †Morenelaphus Carette 1922 |
| Species: | †M. brachyceros
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Morenelaphus brachyceros | |
Morenelaphus is an extinct genus of capreoline deer that lived in South America during the Pleistocene, ranging from the Pampas to southern Bolivia and Northeast Brazil. There is only a single recognised species, Morenelaphus brachyceros. It was a large deer, with some specimens estimated to exceed 200 kilograms in body mass.[1] The antlers were over 70 cm in length, and are superficially similar those of deer belonging to the subfamily Cervinae, like red deer.[2] 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.[3]
Dental microwear analysis suggests Morenelaphus had a mixed-feeder diet, including grass and perhaps with the occasional ingestion of gritstone. It went extinct during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, around 12,000 years ago, possibly as a result of climate change and nutritional stress.[4]
References
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- Capreolinae
- Prehistoric deer
- Pleistocene Artiodactyla
- 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
- Monotypic prehistoric Artiodactyla genera
- Sopas Formation
- Prehistoric Artiodactyla stubs