Palaeomerycids were strange three-horned Eurasian Miocene ruminants known through fossils from Spain to China. We here study their systematics, offering the first cladistic phylogeny of the best-known species of the group, and also reassess their phylogenetic position among ruminants, which is currently disputed. The beautifully preserved remains of a new palaeomerycid from middle Miocene deposits of Spain, Xenokeryx amidalae gen. et sp. nov., helps us to better understand palaeomerycid anatomy, especially that of the nuchal region in the skull, significantly improving our current knowledge on these enigmatic ruminants. Our results show two main lineages of palaeomerycids, one containing the genus Ampelomeryx diagnosed by a characteristic type of cranium / cranial appendages and some dental derived traits, and another one that clusters those forms more closely related to Triceromeryx than to Ampelomeryx, characterized by a more derived dentition and a set of apomorphic cranial features. Xenokeryx branches as a basal offshoot of this clade. Also, we find that Eurasian palaeomerycids are not closely related to North American dromomerycids, thus rejecting the currently more accepted view of palaeomerycids as the Eurasian part of the dromomerycid lineage. Instead of this, palaeomerycids are nested with the African Miocene pecoran Propalaeoryx and with giraffoids. On the other hand, dromomerycids are closely related to cervids. We define a clade Giraffomorpha that includes palaeomerycids and giraffids, and propose an emended diagnosis of the Palaeomerycidae based on cranial and postcranial characters, including several features of the cranium not described so far. We also define the Palaeomerycidae as the least inclusive clade of pecorans containing Triceromeryx and Ampelomeryx. Finally, we reassess the taxonomy of several palaeomerycid taxa.

Objective: To evaluate the association between neuroimaging and outcome in infants with congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV), focusing on qualitative MRI and quantitative diffusion-weighted imaging of white matter abnormalities (WMAs). Methods: Multicentre retrospective cohort study of 160 infants with cCMV (103 symptomatic). A four-grade neuroimaging scoring system was applied to cranial ultrasonography and MRI acquired at ≤3 months. WMAs were categorised as multifocal or diffuse. Temporal-pole WMAs (TPWMAs) consisted of swollen or cystic appearance. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were obtained from frontal, parieto-occipital and temporal white matter regions. Available follow-up MRI at ≥6 months (N=14) was additionally reviewed. Neurodevelopmental assessment included motor function, cognition, behaviour, hearing, vision and epilepsy. Adverse outcome was defined as death or moderate/severe disability. Results: Neuroimaging scoring was associated with outcome (p<0.001, area under the curve 0.89±0.03). Isolated WMAs (IWMAs) were present in 61 infants, and WMAs associated with other lesions in 30. Although TPWMAs and diffuse pattern often coexisted in infants with IWMAs (p<0.001), only TPWMAs were associated with adverse outcomes (OR 7.8; 95% CI 1.4 to 42.8), including severe hearing loss in 20% and hearing loss combined with other moderate/severe disabilities in 15%. Increased ADC values were associated with higher neuroimaging scores, WMAs based on visual assessment and IWMAs with TPWMAs. ADC values were not associated with outcome in infants with IWMAs. Findings suggestive of progression of WMAs on follow-up MRI included gliosis and malacia. Conclusions: Categorisation of neuroimaging severity correlates with outcome in cCMV. In infants with IWMAs, TPWMAs provide a guide to prognosis.

Giraffids include the only living giraffomorph ruminants and are diagnosed by the presence of bi-lobed canines and a special type of epiphyseal cranial appendages called ossicones. The family Giraffidae ranges from the latest early Miocene until today. However they are currently extant relics with only two living representatives, the African genera Okapia and Giraffa. Giraffids were much more diverse and widespread in the past, with more than 30 fossil species described. For the past decades a number of studies intended to resolve the phylogenetic relationships of the family, but due to the lack of really good cranial material no clear consensus was reached regarding the phylogenetic relationships amongst the different members of the group. The exceptionally complete remains of a new large giraffid from the late Miocene of Spain, Decennatherium rex sp. nov., allows us to improve and reassess giraffid systematics, offering a lot of new data, both anatomic and phylogenetic, on the large late Miocene giraffids of Eurasia. The results of our cladistic analysis show Decennatherium as a basal offshoot of a clade containing the gigantic samotheres and sivatheres, characterized by the presence of a Sivatherium-like ossicone-plan among other features. Decennatherium thus offers the most ancient evidence of this Sivatherium-plan and firmly establishes the early morphological patterns of evolution of a sivathere / samothere-clade that is defined as the less inclusive clade that contains Decennatherium and Sivatherium. Finally, this large group of four-ossiconed giraffids evolutionarily links Miocene Europe and Africa indicating vicariance / migration processes among the giraffid genetic pools separated by the Mediterranean Sea.

Decennatherium pachecoi Crusafont, 1952 Crusafont, M. 1952. Los jiráfidos fósiles de España. Diputación Provincial de Barcelona. Memorias y Comunicaciones del Instituto Geológico VIII: Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado. CSIC, Barcelona , Spain, 239 pp. [Google Scholar] , is one of two giraffid species described from the Miocene of the Iberian Peninsula. This species is recovered exclusively from Vallesian faunas (MN9–10, late Miocene, 10–11 Ma). Despite being relatively well represented in the fossil record, except for the skull and ossicones, the complete vertebral column, and part of the upper dentition, its systematics and phylogenetic position among giraffids are the subject of debate. We update our knowledge of D. pachecoi, revising all Spanish material assigned to this species, as well as previously undescribed fossils. We reassess the systematics of Decennatherium, including its potential relationship with the second Iberian giraffid, the early Turolian Birgerbohlinia Crusafont, 1952 Crusafont, M. 1952. Los jiráfidos fósiles de España. Diputación Provincial de Barcelona. Memorias y Comunicaciones del Instituto Geológico VIII: Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado. CSIC, Barcelona , Spain, 239 pp. [Google Scholar] , by means of the first cladistic analysis of the Giraffidae that includes Decennatherium together with the most relevant African and Eurasian taxa, both fossil and extant. Our results link Decennatherium with a ‘samothere’ clade, whereas Birgerbohlinia is nested within a ‘sivathere’ clade, thus refuting a previously assumed direct relationship between the two Spanish forms. Finally, we discuss some other possible finds of the genus Decennatherium in Greece, Turkey, and Iran. SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at www.tandfonline.com/UJVP Citation for this article: Rios, M., I. M. Sánchez, and J. Morales. 2016. Comparative anatomy, phylogeny, and systematics of the Miocene giraffid Decennatherium pachecoi Crusafont, 1952 (Mammalia, Ruminantia, Pecora): State of the art. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2016.1187624.

Here we describe the fossil remains of Cainotherium aff. huerzeleri and Lagopsis penai from the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (Castelló, Spain). We also compare the relative abundance of cainotheriids vs. lagomorphs and discuss the possible direct interaction between both taxa, possibly indicating the competition between both families. The oldest locality in study has a predominance of Cainotherium followed by a dominance of Lagopsis in the next localities. Afterwards we see another interval where the relative abundance of Cainotherium is higher. However, after this period the relative abundance of Lagopsis increases again in one of the most recent sites, with a posterior modest increase in Cainotherium in the youngest locality that also sees a decrease in the abundance of Lagopsis. We can observe a pattern of one taxon attaining higher relative abundance when the other shows a decrease at the same time period, possibly indicating a direct competition between Lagopsis and Cainotherium.

New remains of the small tragulid Dorcatherium songhorensis Whitworth, 1958 from the Early Miocene fossil site of Napak XXI (Uganda) include the first significant sample of postcranial bones from this species ever described. 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. Additionally Siamotragulus shows some cursorial refinements reflected in its postcranial skeleton including the pecoran-like metatarsals III–IV. Siamotragulus songhorensis shows that the genus Siamotragulus was not endemic to Asia as previously thought, and that a highly diverse guild of tragulids, including different members of the advanced selenodont clade, inhabited Africa as early as the Early Miocene (19–20 Ma).This study is part of the research project CGL2011-25754 (Spanish Government, MINECO), and the Research Group CAM-UCM 910607.Peer Reviewe