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, and a reptilian-like physiology, 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]
The first remains of Myotragus were described by Dorothea Bate in 1909. Bate had been sent a letter by Robert Ashington Bullen, who informed her about a bone-bearing breccia deposit on the east of Mallorca, which prompted her to survey the island for Pleistocene aged cave deposits. Three such deposits were found, which yielded fragmentary remains of Myotragus, including a mostly complete skull, associated with a mandible and atlas vertebra, which was designated the type specimen of the new species and genus Myotragus balearicus.[4] In 1915, Charles William Andrews described more material discovered in the intervening years, including material that had been discovered on Menorca.[5]
Six sequential chronospecies of Myotragus have been named,[6] representing 5 million years of gradual accumulated morphological change, including a reduction in body size and changes to the locomotor system, the teeth and the visual system.[7]
The species M. binigausensis Moyà-Solà and Pons-Moyà, 1980 from the Pleistocene of Menorca has been synonymised with M. batei.[8]