First African record of the Miocene Asian mouse-deer Siamotragulus (Mammalia, Ruminantia, Tragulidae): implications for the phylogeny and evolutionary history of the advanced selenodont tragulids

The limb bones of this tragulid are very similar to that described in the Miocene Asian long-legged tragulids of the genus Siamotragulus Thomas et al ., 1990, a type previously unknown in the African Miocene.

A cladistic analysis links D. songhorensis to a Siamotragulus clade as its basal offshoot, so we propose the name Siamotragulus songhorensis (Whitworth, 1958) for this species. Also, the Siamotragulus clade belongs to a monophyletic group that includes Afrotragulus Sánchez et al ., 2010 and the extant Asian genera Moschiola and Tragulus . This inclusive clade is characterized by both a derived selenodont dentition and an advanced postcranial skeleton.