Temporal range: Eocene–Miocene
|Range of Hypertragulidae based on fossil finds|
Hypertragulidae is an extinct family of even-toed ungulates (order Artiodactyla), endemic to North America, Europe, and Asia during the Eocene through Miocene, living 46.2—13.6 Ma, existing for approximately .
Hypertragulidae were primitive and ancient ruminants, resembling small deer or musk deer. However, both deer and musk deer are no longer considered to be closely related to the hypertragulids. Instead, the chevrotains are probably the closest living relatives to these ancient deer-like animals.
Hypertragulidae was named by Cope (1879). It was considered paraphyletic by Matthew (1908). It was assigned to Ruminantia by Matthew (1908) and Gregory (1910); to Pecora by Cook (1934); and to Traguloidea by Carroll (1988).
Hypertragulidae have tetradactyl front feet and ditactyl (two digits) rear feet which is specific to this family and no other ruminant. They ranged in body mass from as small as 2.16 kg (4.8 lb) with Parvitragulus to as large as 424.9 kg (940 lb) in Hypisodus.
- PaleoBiology Database: Hypertragulidae, basic info
- W. D. Matthew. 1908. Osteology of Blastomeryx and phylogeny of the American Cervidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 24(27):535-562
- W. K. Gregory. 1910. The orders of mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 27:1-524
- H. J. Cook. 1934. New artiodactyls from the Oligocene and Lower Miocene of Nebraska. American Midland Naturalist 15(2):148-165