I had not noticed how similar they are to the Mazama deer, is there any genetic study which shows resemblance within the species?
The two are in entirely different families - brockets are within the Cervidae and duikers within the Bovidae.
If you want to get into subfamilies, Brockets (Mazama spp) belong to the subfamily Capreolinae and Duikers (Cephalophus spp, Sylvicapra spp, Philantomba spp) belong to the subfamily Cephalophinae, I can see the resemblence do to the fact that both taxa have similar morphology and fill the same ecological niche with the former in the Neotropics and the latter in Africa. Muntjacs (Muntiacus spp) also fill that same niche, but in Asia Although Agoutis (Dasyprocta spp) belong to the order Rodentia and not Artiodactyla like the other species mentioned, they also fill a similar ecological niche in the Neotropics
Very true, but as these are subfamilies of two entirely different families it does not make them any more related, which is what toto98 was asking about Of course, we would have a lot more interesting convergences in ungulate groups were the Notoungulata and Litopterna still extant.
Sorry to digress, but I thought I might share that one genus in Litopterna filled a similar ecological niche to gazelles, that genus was Thoatherium, they were actually the smallest representative of that order. The morphology of Thoatherium also reminds me somewhat of early prehistoric equids Going back to the main topic of duikers, size wise Thoatherium wearnt much different than duikers. Thoatherium was only 2.3 feet in length As for Notoungulata, the closest thing to a convergence, I could think of would be Notostylops, and even they looked more similar to jackrabbits and hares (Lepus sp.) or Maras (Dolichotis sp.)
You're forgetting the most well-known of the Notoungulata, Toxodon, which along with its close kin had features which - were it alive today - would likely cause people to compare it to a blend of rhinoceros and hippopotamus!
Good point! Perhaps I guess the only thing that was on my mind when I wrote this post was the compararing Litopterna and Notounguluta to species the suborder Ruminantia Toxodon actually do remind me of rhinoceros and hippopotamus , their head is very hippopotamus-like and their front legs remind me of those of a rhinoceros
Sorry to continue the digression about Litopterna Notoungulata convergences with Artiodactyla and Perrisodactyla, but here are two others that come to mind 1. Theosodon (Order Litopterna), their head and body look like that of South American camelids but their nasal structure is more like that of a Saiga (Saiga tatarica) 2. Thomashuxleya (Order Notoungulata), they seem to resemble species within the extinct pig-like entelodonts of the order Artiodactyla I could go on and on with several other examples, but that might be pointless unless anyone is interested in hearing them
