The diets of the Dromomerycidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) and their response to Miocene vegetational change

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Abstract
The probable diets of members of the extinct ruminant family Dromomerycidae were determined via an assessment of gross anatomical correlates of feeding strategy, mesowear analysis, and microscopic scar topography of enamel surfaces of cheek teeth. Discriminant models derived from 108 extant ruminants of known diet were applied to fossil taxa to ascertain probable trophic habits in dromomerycids. Microwear and mesowear analyses of molar tooth wear supplemented this gross skull and tooth morphological assessment as a means of providing more direct and independent sources of evidence for the nature and potential shifts in diet within dromomerycid lineages. In general, estimations of diets obtained from the study of gross morphology correlated well with those obtained from wear patterns. However, this was not always the case, suggesting that independent means of dietary analysis are critical when attempting to reconstruct paleodiets. In addition, hypsodonty (relative molar crown height) proved to be ...