A taxonomic approach to the insular Caprines from the Gymnesic Islands (western Mediterranean Sea)

Abstract

On 1909, Miss Dorothea Bate described Myotragus on the basis of its highly modified dentition and short metapodials. The type species, M. balearicus, is a small-sized caprine from the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene of the Gymnesic Islands. Five species and a variety were later on ascribed to the genus. The incorporation of all these taxa into Myotragus has been mainly supported by their geographical provenance, but never fundamented on a thorough morphological analysis. Recently, a new interpretation of the Myotragus dentition threw new light on the taxonomy of the genus and its specific contents. Based on this new interpretation, a reappraisal of the generic taxonomy of the Gymnesic fossil caprines is presented here. It includes a new generic diagnosis for Myotragus, the emended diagnosis for all recognized species, revised synonymies, as well as a reinterpretation of the generic status of the more primitive species previously attributed to Myotragus, but not displaying the synapomorphies used by us to define the genus. Consequently, Insulotragus nov.gen. is erected to embrace these earlier forms.