Archaeomeryx Temporal range: Early Eocene
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | †Archaeomerycidae |
Genus: | †Archaeomeryx Matthew & Granger, 1925 |
Species: | †A. optatus
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Binomial name | |
†Archaeomeryx optatus Matthew & Granger, 1925
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Archaeomeryx is an extinct genus of ruminant that lived early in the Eocene.[1][2][3] It is believed to be close to the ancestry of the group Pecora, which includes deer, giraffes, cows and their relatives. Unlike the modern members of this group, it had a set of functioning incisors in the upper jaw.[4] It was small in size, comparable to a modern-day mouse deer.[5] It was also very rabbit-like and had several distinctive characteristics.[6] It lived in present-day China 35 to 40 million years ago.[7]