Capromeryx minor

Taxobox
name = "Capromeryx minor"
fossil_range = Pleistocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Artiodactyla
familia = Antilocapridae
genus = †"Capromeryx"
genus_authority = Matthew, 1902
species = †"C. minor"
species_authority = Taylor, 1911
binomial = †"Capromeryx minor"

"Capromeryx minor" is a very small, extinct species of pronghorn-like antilocaprid ungulate discovered in the La Brea Tar Pits of California and elsewhere. It has been found at least as far east as the coast of Texas. It stood about 60 centimetres tall at the shoulders and weighed about 10 kilograms (22 lb). It is unclear whether females had horns as well as males. Each horn consists of a pair of short, straight points that sprouts from a single base on either side of the head, with the two prongs forming approximately a 60 degree angle. A number of different species have been described which are likely all the same: "Capromeryx furcifer", "Capromeryx mexicana" and "Capromeryx minimus ". Its fossils have also been found at least as far east at as the Texas coast, as well as in Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, Sonora, Baja California, and near Mexico City. Specimens of this species (and its synonyms) date to the Late Irvingtonian and Rancholabrean periods. Two earlier species are known: "Capromeryx tautonensis" from Washington State and from Central Mexico in the Early Blancan, and "Capromeryx arizonensis" from the Late Blancan in Arizona, New Mexico and Florida. These two earlier species were larger than, and heavier than, the Pleistocene species. It is thought by some biologists that it lived in forests and underbrush, where its small size would have helped it to hide. It is unlikely that it lived in open prairies, since it would not have been fast enough to outrun the predators of that time.