Synthetoceratinae [SEP] parent taxon
Synthetoceratinae
Synthetoceratinae is an extinct subfamily of Protoceratidae, deer-like herbivorous mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla. They were endemic to North America during the Miocene epoch, living 23.03—3.9 Ma, existing for approximately .
Taxonomy.
Synthetoceratinae was named by Frick (1937). Its type genus is "Synthetoceras". It was considered monophyletic by Webb et al. (2003). It was assigned to Protoceratidae by Webb (1981), Prothero (1998), Webb et al. (2003), Hulbert
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of