Abstract
The locality of Dorn-Dürkheim houses the youngest record for the family Moschidae in Europe besides Micromeryx mirus from Kohfidisch (Austria; Vislobokova Paleontol J 41(4):451–460, 2007) and Hispanomeryx sp. from Puente Minero (Spain; Sánchez et al. Palaeontology 53(5):1023–1047, 2010). In describing the moschid material from Dorn-Dürkheim, we intend to update the data on the European late Miocene representatives of the family. With a nearly closed anterior valley in p4 and brachy- to mesodont (sensu Damuth and Janis Biol Rev 86(3):733–758, 2011) lower molars, the material of small ruminants from Dorn-Dürkheim shows typical features of the Miocene Moschidae that clearly distinguish them from dental remains of similar sized but more brachydont taxa, such as Lagomeryx (Rössner Palaeontogr A 277:103–112, 2006). Dimensionally, both the teeth and the postcranial material fit well within the variability of the genus Micromeryx. Morphologically, the postcranial material clearly differs from that of Hispanomeryx. Therefore, we assign the material from Dorn-Dürkheim 1 to Micromeryx sp. A brief review of the biochronologic and palaeogeographic range of the European Miocene Moschidae is given.
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Acknowledgments
J.L. Franzen is thanked for organising this special issue, for providing material, for comments on the manuscript and for giving us the opportunity to be part of the “Dorn-Dürkheim team”. Many thanks go to M. Böhme, G. Rössner, and P. Havlik for discussions and access to collections. Furthermore U. Göhlich (NHMW), R. Ziegler (SMNS), C. Argot (MNHN) are thanked for access to their abundant collections. We thank D. Vasilyan for the help with Russian publications. This research received support from the SYNTHESYS Project (FR-TAF-1892) which is financed by the European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 “Capacities” Program. Elmar P.J. Heizmann and Beatriz Azanza are thanked for reviewing and improving this manuscript with their helpful comments. M. Pickford is thanked for improving the English.
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This article is a contribution to the special issue “Dorn-Dürkheim 1, Germany: A highly diverse Turolian fauna from mid-latitude Europe”
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Aiglstorfer, M., Costeur, L. The Moschidae of Dorn-Dürkheim 1 (Germany). Palaeobio Palaeoenv 93, 207–215 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-013-0117-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-013-0117-9