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''Ramoceros'' is an extinct
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of the
artiodactyl The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing poster ...
family
Antilocapridae The Antilocapridae are a family of artiodactyls endemic to North America. Their closest extant relatives are the giraffids with which they comprise the superfamily Giraffoidea. Only one species, the pronghorn (''Antilocapra americana''), is ...
endemic to Middle Miocene (
Clarendonian The Clarendonian North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 13,600,000 to 10,300,000 years BP, a period of . It is ...
) North America.Blount, Kitty and Crowley, Maggie. ''Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life'', p. 271 (Penguin, 2008).


Taxonomy

''Ramoceros'' is one of several genera that originated from the subfamily Merycodontinae, of which the
pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...
is the only surviving remnant. In fact, pronghorn is the only surviving remnant of the entire family
Antilocapridae The Antilocapridae are a family of artiodactyls endemic to North America. Their closest extant relatives are the giraffids with which they comprise the superfamily Giraffoidea. Only one species, the pronghorn (''Antilocapra americana''), is ...
.Smithsonian Institution. North American Mammals
Pronghorn ''Antilocapra americana''
/ref> '' Merriamoceros'' was originally placed in ''Ramoceros'' (as ''Ramoceros coronatus'').


Description

''Ramoceros'' was a prehistoric relative of modern
pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...
(''Antilocapra americana''), which is a species of artiodactyl mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America; modern pronghorn are the second-fastest mammal in the world. The modern pronghorn weighs about , whereas the smaller ''Ramoceros'' generally weighed . The horns of ''Ramoceros'' are notable in that one horn, either the left or right, is always about three to four times larger than the other.


Paleobiology

The long forked horns of ''Ramoceros'' may have been used by rival males in competition. Like other antilocaprids, ''Ramoceros'' regrew their horns every year, forming new horns growing on bony centers.


Bibliography

*''Vertebrate Palaeontology'' by Michael J. Benton *''The Evolution of Artiodactyls'' by Donald R. Prothero and Scott E. Foss


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q29586762 Prehistoric pronghorns Prehistoric even-toed ungulate genera Miocene even-toed ungulates Miocene mammals of North America Clarendonian Fossil taxa described in 1937