Myotragus

Myotragus
Temporal range: Pliocene–Holocene 5.3–0.0046 Ma
Skeleton of Myotragus balearicus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Caprinae
Tribe: Caprini
Genus: †Myotragus
Bate, 1909
Type species
†Myotragus balearicus
Bate, 1909
Other species
  • M. palomboi Bover, Quintana & Alcover, 2010
  • M. pepgonellae Moyà-Solà & Pons-Moyà, 1982
  • M. antiquus Pons-Moyà, 1977
  • M. kopperi Moya & Pons, 1980
  • M. batei Crusafont & Angel, 1966

Myotragus (Neo-Latin, derived from the Greek: μῦς, τράγος "mouse-goat") is an extinct genus of goat-antelope in the tribe Caprini which lived on the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Menorca in the western Mediterranean until its extinction around 4,500 years ago.[1] The fossil record of Myotragus on the Balearic Islands extends over 5 million years back to the early Pliocene on Mallorca, where it presumably arrived after the evaporation of the Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (around 5.96-5.33 million years ago).

Myotragus is represented by six sequential chronospecies representing gradual change in morphology. The youngest and best known species, M. balearicus, is noted for a number of unusual morphological adaptions, including forward facing eyes suggestive of binocular vision, as well as a long lifespan, which developed in an unusual ecosystem where only a few other mammal species were present, terrestrial predators were absent, and Myotragus functioned as the only major herbivore. M. balearicus became extinct when humans arrived in the Balearic Islands during the 3rd millennium BC, along with the large shrew Nesiotites and the giant dormouse Hypnomys, the only other terrestrial mammals native to the islands.

Early genetic research suggested that it was closely related to sheep of the genus Ovis;[2] however, more recent research has indicated that its closest living relative is the takin (Budorcas taxicolor).[3]

  1. ^ Karolyn Shindler (2005). Discovering Dorothea : The Life of the Pioneering Fossil-Hunter Dorothea Bate. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0002571388.
  2. ^ Lalueza-Fox; et al. (6 December 2005). "Molecular dating of caprines using ancient DNA sequences of Myotragus balearicus, an extinct endemic Balearic mammal". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 5 (1): 70. Bibcode:2005BMCEE...5...70L. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-5-70. PMC 1325260. PMID 16332256.
  3. ^ Bover, Pere; Llamas, Bastien; Mitchell, Kieren J.; Thomson, Vicki A.; Alcover, Josep Antoni; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; Cooper, Alan; Pons, Joan (July 2019). "Unraveling the phylogenetic relationships of the extinct bovid Myotragus balearicus Bate 1909 from the Balearic Islands". Quaternary Science Reviews. 215: 185–195. Bibcode:2019QSRv..215..185B. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.05.005. S2CID 189965070.