''Leptauchenia'' is an extinct

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of ...

-like

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 n ...

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthp ...

belonging to the

oreodont Merycoidodontoidea, sometimes called "oreodonts" or " ruminating hogs", is an extinct superfamily of prehistoric cud-chewing artiodactyls with short faces and fang-like canine teeth. As their name implies, some of the better known forms were g ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Merycoidodontidae Merycoidodontoidea, sometimes called "oreodonts" or " ruminating hogs", is an extinct superfamily of prehistoric cud-chewing artiodactyls with short faces and fang-like canine teeth. As their name implies, some of the better known forms were gen ...

, and the type genus of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

Leptaucheniini. The genus was endemic to North America during the

Late Oligocene The Chattian is, in the geologic timescale, the younger of two ages or upper of two stages of the Oligocene Epoch/ Series. It spans the time between . The Chattian is preceded by the Rupelian and is followed by the Aquitanian (the lowest stag ...

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 Ma to 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). It was p ...

(33.9—16.3

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) and lived for approximately .

Morphology

Because the eyes and nostrils were placed high on the head, it was long assumed that ''Leptauchenia'' was an aquatic, or semi-aquatic animal. However, because their fossils have never been found in floodplain deposits or river channels, and their abundance in fossil sand dunes,

Donald Prothero Donald Ross Prothero (February 21, 1954) is an American geologist, paleontologist, and author who specializes in mammalian paleontology and magnetostratigraphy, a technique to date rock layers of the Cenozoic era and its use to date the climate ...

suggests that they were desert-dwelling animals.Prothero, D. R., and F. Sanchez. 2005. Review of the leptauchenine oreodonts (Mammalia: Artiodacttyla). ''New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin.'' According to Prothero's interpretation, the high-placed eyes and nostrils served to filter out sand while burrowing, or while digging themselves free of sand dunes.

Fossil distribution

Skeletons of ''Leptauchenia'' have been found by the thousands and in greater numbers than the related genus ''

Sespia ''Sespia'' ("of Sespe Creek") is an extinct genus of oreodont endemic to North America. They lived during the Late Oligocene 26.3—24.8 mya, existing for approximately . ''Sespia'' was cat to goat-sized and desert-dwelling. The genus was clo ...

'', it is often quoted as being the most numerous mammal in North America during the Late Oligocene. It had high-crowned, hypsodont teeth which were used to chew gritty vegetation.

Species

*''L. brevifacies'' (syn. ''Pithecistes decedens'') *''L. decora'' (type species) (syn. ''Hadroleptauchenia primitiva'', ''Leptauchenia harveyi'', ''Pithecistes breviceps'', ''Pithecistes facies'', ''Pithecistes tanneri'', ''Pseudocyclopidius frankforteri'') *''L. eiselyi'' *''L. major'' (syn. ''Brachymeryx feliceps'', ''Cyclopidius emydinus'', ''Cyclopidius incisivus'', ''Cyclopidius lullianus'', ''Cyclopidius simus'', ''Hadroleptauchenia extrema'', ''Hadroleptauchenia shanafeltae'', ''L. densa'', ''L. margeryae'', ''L. martini'', ''L. parasimus'', ''Pithecistes altageringensis'', ''Pithecistes copei'') *''L. orellaensis''

References

Oreodonts Oligocene even-toed ungulates Oligocene genus extinctions White River Fauna Fossil taxa described in 1856 Prehistoric even-toed ungulate genera {{paleo-eventoedungulate-stub