Unexpected differences between males and females in early mouse deer

Drawing of the male (left) and female mouse deer of the species Dorcatherium naui, which lived eleven million years ago in what is now Germany's Allgäu region. — Drawing of the male (left) and female mouse deer of the species Dorcatherium naui, which lived eleven million years ago in what is now Germany’s Allgäu region.

Reconstruction of the female (top/left) and male (bottom/right) mouse deer skull from the Hammerschmiede clay pit.

Virtual reconstruction of the male mouse deer skull from the Hammerschmiede clay pit. Microcomputed tomographic data show the air-filled internal structure of the pronounced cranial ridges.

Publication:

Josephina Hartung & Madelaine Böhme 2022. Unexpected cranial sexual dimorphism in the tragulid Dorcatherium naui based on material from the middle to late Miocene localities of Eppelsheim and Hammerschmiede (Germany). PLOS ONE, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267951

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Publication:

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