A Pliocene fauna from Western Nebraska / by W.D. Matthew and Harold J. Cook.

  • Matthew, William Diller, 1871-1930.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A Pliocene fauna from Western Nebraska / by W.D. Matthew and Harold J. Cook. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    190!).] Blastomeryx cf. wellsi. Three lower molars, No. 14118, agree with this species in size and other- wise so far as comparison is possible, except that the anterior cingular crest is even more prominent. Axtilocapridje. Merycodus. 'Phis genus is rather common, being represented by sixteen lower jaws, numerous teeth, limb-bones, cannon-bones, etc., with a couple of fragments of antlers. Most of the material belongs to a single species which for the present we regard as a variety of M. necatus. A much larger and a much smaller species are also represented — both of doubtful generic reference. Merycodus necatus sabulonis var. nov. The type of Merycodus necatus Leidy, 1854, is from Bijon Hills, and consists of a fragment of the lower jaw with p4-m,. Leidy subsequently (1809) figured a lower jaw with p8-m3 which he referred to this species. The series of lower jaws in our collection, Nos. 14102-17, run uniformly smaller and slenderer than Leidv’s specimens, and better material might show them to be distinct specifically. They show some degree of variation Fig. 24. Merycodus necatus sabulonis, lower jaw, type specimen, natural size, external view. in robustness and size, aside from the variations in proportion of the teeth which are due to age, but are from ten to twenty per cent, smaller, and the two posterior inner crests of p, are less distinct than in Leidy’s figure. In the absence of a satisfactory topotypic series of M. necatus, it appears inad- visable to regard these differences as more than varietal. A large series of limb and foot-bones, Nos. 14125, 14132, agrees pretty nearly in size with the