Two species of lagomorphs are represented in the Diamond O Ranch local fauna of southwestern Montana. Mytonolagus ashcrafti, new species, is the most common mammal at Diamond O Ranch, and is comparable in evolutionary grade to Mytonolagus wyomingensis Wood, 1949, and more advanced than either Mytonolagus petersoni Burke, 1934, or Mytonolagus near M. petersoni. A second species of lagomorph is represented by only a few specimens from near the base of the Diamond O Ranch section. The teeth of this form tentatively assigned to Palaeolagus Leidy, 1856, are significantly more hypsodont than those of M. ashcrafti. The Diamond O Ranch local fauna falls very near the Duchesnean—Chadronian boundary in one of the most poorly documented temporal intervals during the entire Cenozoic of North America.
How to translate text using browser tools
1 November 2009
Leporids (Mammalia, Lagomorpha) from the Diamond O Ranch Local Fauna, Latest Middle Eocene of Southwestern Montana
Łucja Fostowicz-Frelik,
Alan R. Tabrum
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
dental morphology
Duchesnean
Lagomorpha
Middle Eocene
Montana
Mytonolagus ashcrafti new species
Palaeolagus