Dispersing or Contracting: A Perspective on the Evolutionary History and Population Conservation of Musk Deer

Abstract

Musk deer, as a small hornless group, are of great significance in the phylogenetic evolution of ruminants. Clarification of their evolutionary history has the potential to contribute to an understanding of the total phylogeny of both cervids and bovids. In this paper, based on a comprehensive review of the literature, an integrated rearrangement of moschid fossils is proposed. Our review has produced the following results on the evolution and conservation of moschids: (1) the family Moschidae probably appeared abruptly at a around 30±5Ma, and evolved in parallel with Cervidae and Bovidae; (2) compared with Tragulidae and other Pecora, the Moschidae have acquired a number of progressive traits in common with Cervidae and Bovidae while maintaining certain primitive features, while in their own evolutionary history, they developed a suite of derived features to meet with new environmental circumstances while retaining the most important primitive traits; (3) the origin, divergence, diversification, dispersal and ultimate disappearance of moschids in Europe and North America are essentially closely related with the fluctuation of the global climate and local environmental changes; (4) an overall picture of the evolutionary history of Moschus is given; (5) multiple causes are responsible for the global downturn and near-extinction of all musk deer species and populations in recent decades, but it is due mainly to the international background of musk smuggling and domestic anthropocentric factors, particularly overpoaching using Gansitao. All in all, Early moschids underwent over 20Ma of "boom and bust" history from the late Oligocene to the end of Miocene in Europe and North America, and only the Eastern part of Asia sheltered the recent representatives during the Quaternary glacial cycles, but there is still a very long way to go before we can reconstruct the family's phylogenetic history in full, and the conservation of today's musk deer populations is currently the most urgent mission.

Micromeryx? eiselei—A new moschid species from Steinheim am Albuch, Germany, and the first comprehensive description of moschid cranial material from the Miocene of Central Europe

“…Moschus remains the only surviving genus of the family. It is restricted to montane woodlands in Asia [ 1 ], has been in decline for some decades [ 2 ], and was included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species [ 3 ]. The phylogenetic position of the family has been the subject of debate for a long time: based on morphologic, molecular, and behavioural data, the family was placed at the base of the Pecora [ 4 ], or considered as the sister group of either Cervidae (+ Antilocapridae) [ 5 – 10 ], or Bovidae (+Antilocapridae) [ 11 – 16 ] (see also discussions in [ 9 , 13 , 17 , 18 ] for this controversy).…”

On the oldest Mongolian moschids (Mammalia, Ruminantia) and the early moschid evolution

“…However, only little is known on the origin and early evolution of this family, especially in Asia. Several late Oligocene and early Miocene hornless ruminants have been included into this family, mainly based on plesiomorphic characters including the absence of cranial outgrowths and the presence of saber-like upper canines (e.g., Amphitragulus, Pomelomeryx, Bedenomeryx, Dremotherium, andBlastomerycinae in Prothero, 2007, andGroves, 2016). However, recent studies demonstrate that some of these taxa can be assigned to other clades (e.g., Dremotherium included in the Cervoidea, Sánchez et al, 2015; Bedenomeryx included in the Giraffomorpha, Mennecart et al, 2019).…”

“…from Sibnica 4, Serbia; unit MN4 of the European biochronological system based on mammals; older than 16 Ma; Alaburic and Radovic, 2016). Liu and Groves (2016) named Micromeryx sp. from Sihong in China as a record of similar age.…”

“…The determination of the ruminant remains defined as Micromeryx from the early Miocene locality Damiao DM16 (Wang et al, 2015) by Zhang et al (2011) has been questioned due to the fragmentary state of the specimens (Wang et al, 2015). No less than six species of Micromeryx and three species of Hispanomeryx are known in Western and Central Europe (Thenius, 1950;Morales et al, 1981;Azanza, 1986;Vislobokova, 2007;Sánchez and Morales, 2008;Sánchez et al, 2009;Sánchez et al, 2010;Liu and Groves, 2016;Aiglstorfer et al, 2017). In contrast, only a few remains of Micromeryx and Hispanomeryx are currently known from Asia, comprising one described Hispanomeryx species: Hispanomeryx abdrewsi from the Chinese Wolf Camp, Tunggur Formation (Sánchez et al, 2011).…”