Myotragus (Neo-Latin, derived from the Greek: μῦς, τράγος "mouse-goat") is an extinct genus of goat-antelope in the tribe Caprini which lived on the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Menorca in the western Mediterranean until its extinction around 4,500 years ago.[1] The fossil record of Myotragus on the Balearic Islands extends over 5 million years back to the early Pliocene on Mallorca, where it presumably arrived after the evaporation of the Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian Salinity Crisis.
Myotragus is represented by six sequential chronospecies representing gradual change in morphology. The youngest and best known species, M. balearicus, is noted for a number of unusual morphological adaptions, including forward facing eyes suggestive of binocular vision, as well as a long lifespan, which developed in an unusual ecosystem where only a few other mammal species were present, terrestrial predators were absent, and Myotragus functioned as the only major herbivore. M.balearicus became extinct when humans arrived in the Balearic Islands during the 3rd millennium BC.
Early genetic research suggested that it was closely related to sheep of the genus Ovis;[2] however, more recent research has indicated that its closest living relative is the takin (Budorcas taxicolor).[3]
^Karolyn Shindler (2005). Discovering Dorothea : The Life of the Pioneering Fossil-Hunter Dorothea Bate. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0002571388.
^Lalueza-Fox; et al. (6 December 2005). "Molecular dating of caprines using ancient DNA sequences of Myotragus balearicus, an extinct endemic Balearic mammal". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 5 (1): 70. Bibcode:2005BMCEE...5...70L. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-5-70. PMC 1325260. PMID 16332256.
^Bover, Pere; Llamas, Bastien; Mitchell, Kieren J.; Thomson, Vicki A.; Alcover, Josep Antoni; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; Cooper, Alan; Pons, Joan (July 2019). "Unraveling the phylogenetic relationships of the extinct bovid Myotragus balearicus Bate 1909 from the Balearic Islands". Quaternary Science Reviews. 215: 185–195. Bibcode:2019QSRv..215..185B. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.05.005. S2CID 189965070.
selection pressure. Myotragus initially only colonized the island of Mallorca. Only a handful of mammal species aside from Myotragus were able to colonise...
extinct genera of Caprinae have been identified: Tribe Caprini Genus Myotragus † Myotragus balearicus† Tribe Ovibovini Genus Bootherium † Bootherium bombifrons†...
myself as food to the leviathan." Hippocampus Ichthyocentaurs Mermaid Myotragus Sea-griffin Tamsyn Barton (1995). "Augustus and Capricorn: Astrological...
present in Mallorca, alongside the goat-antelope Myotragus and the shrew Nesiotites. Hypnomys, Myotragus and Nesiotites dispersed from Mallorca to Menorca...
terrestrial mammals native to the Balearic Islands were the dwarf goat-antelope Myotragus, the giant dormouse Hypnomys, and the shrew Nesiotites hidalgo which were...
letting the mammalian fauna of Mallorca, including the goat-like ungulate Myotragus, colonize Nuralagus's habitat. So far, all of the fossils have been found...
2019). "Unraveling the phylogenetic relationships of the extinct bovid Myotragus balearicus Bate 1909 from the Balearic Islands". Quaternary Science Reviews...
species of terrestrial mammals native to Mallorca, the dwarf goat-antelope Myotragus balearicus, the giant dormouse Hypnomys morpheus, and the shrew Nesiotites...
Majorcan giant dormouse, the Balearic shrew and the goat-like ruminant Myotragus balearicus) are currently extinct, while those presently found on the...
P., et al. (2016). Closing the gap: new data on the last documented Myotragus and the first human evidence on Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean...
Balearic Islands, where several animal species, such as the goat-antelope Myotragus, would continue to be isolated until the Holocene, over 5 million years...
food, but if liquid water is available, they drink and wallow in it. Myotragus balearicus a goat antelope that was endemic to the Balearic island prior...
islands, alongside the giant dormouse Hypnomys and the dwarf goat-antelope Myotragus. The last Nesiotites chronospecies, N. hidalgo, became extinct shortly...
P., et al. (2016). Closing the gap: new data on the last documented Myotragus and the first human evidence on Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean...
dalii Genus Euceratherium Shrub-ox Euceratherium collinum Genus Myotragus Cave goat Myotragus balearicus Genus Oioceros List of placental mammals (living...
Special mention - Made In Baleares Documentary feature film Dorothea y el Myotragus directoras Nuria Abad, Marta Hierro Best International Documentary Feature...
incisors and shortened limbs. Such features are also seen in the more recent Myotragus (Balearic Island goat). Eumaiochoerus Oreopithecus "Tyrrhenotragus". Fossilworks...
on their prehistoric fauna. In the Balearics in 1909, she discovered Myotragus balearicus, a previously unknown species of the subfamily Caprinae. On...
Antoni; Shailer, Neil; Hagelberg, Erika (2000). "Mitochondrial DNA from Myotragus balearicus, an extinct bovid from the Balearic Islands>". Journal of Experimental...
my Luggage. Goats from a Small Island, Summersdale, 2009. Focuses on Myotragus, the mouse-goat, now extinct, which roamed Majorca and Menorca up until...
potentially be due to insular effects similar to the Pleistocene-Holocene bovid Myotragus. In 2017, Mennecart et al. said that the islands of Sardinia and Corsica...
Bover; Josep Quintana; Josep Antoni Alcover (2010). "A new species of Myotragus Bate, 1909 (Artiodactyla, Caprinae) from the Early Pliocene of Mallorca...
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