Class Mammalia
Order Artiodactyla
Family Camelidae
Sites.
The type locality within the Tecopa Lake Beds is: Standing Camel Quarry, LACM locality 7111 (Whistler and Webb 2005). Two other occurrences also were reported by Whistler and Webb (2005): Smith Creek Cave, Nevada (Rancholabrean) and Mormon Mesa, Nevada. They note that there is no chronological data for the latter site, and it is not mapped here.
In their abstract, Whistler and Webb (2005) note:
The new genus and species Capricamelus gettyi displays an unusual combination of primitive and derived features. Among the former are its retention of large upper incisors and its permanently unfused metapodials (absence of cannon bones). Among the latter, its molars are hypsodont, transversely compressed, and increase greatly in length from the first to the third. The combination of features places this new taxon in the subfamily Miolabinae. Its most distinctive set of characters, including short, mountain goat–like limb proportions and powerful limb articulations, represent special adaptations for low-gear locomotion, unknown in any other camelids.
Late Blancan: Tecopa Lake Beds (Whistler and Mebb 2005).
Literature. Whistler and Webb 2005.
Last Update: 3 Jun 2014