Fossil deers rising from the ashes
The title alludes the name and work of a new paper about Cervidae fossils from the National Museum of Brazil. After the 2018 fire, new discoveries still rise from the ashes!
Recovering lost treasures from the National Museum of Brazil, paleontologists from the UNIRIO Mastozoology Laboratory studied cervid fossils recorded mainly from descriptions and pictures taken before the 2018 fire, and could redescribe and revise those specimens and their taxonomy.
New discoveries include the relevance of teeth morphology for the Cervidae taxonomy, a greater distribution for the genus Morenelaphus, an indeterminate animal which would be the largest knonw South American cervid, and the implications of the presence of large deers for the climate and environment of the region they lived during the Pleistocene.
The image shows Morenelaphus (left) and the Cervidae indet. (right). Many thanks for the LAMAS - UNIRIO paleontologists, who commissioned and supervisioned this artwork!
