South Dakota
New genus of tiny, hornless deer that roamed South Dakota 32 million years ago discovered
A new genus of tiny, hornless deer that lived in South Dakota during the Oligocene Epoch approximately 32 million years ago has been discovered by a team of researchers from Badlands National Park, the American Museum of Natural History and California State Polytechnic University, officials said.
The new deer, called Santuccimeryx, meaning “Santucci’s ruminant”, was named after Vincent L. Santucci, the Senior Paleontologist and Paleontology Program Coordinator in the Geologic Resources Division of the National Park Service “to honor his history with and advocacy for the paleontology program at Badlands National Park,” according to a statement from the National Park Service announcing the discovery.
A high definition photo of the Santuccimeryx skull discovered at Badlands National Park in 2016.
National Park Service
The research was published this week in the “Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science.”
“Santuccimeryx belongs to the extinct family Leptomerycidae, and its skull shares features of both the Oligocene genus Leptomeryx and the Miocene genus Pseudoparablastomeryx, two animals that are nearly 10 million years apart in time,” NPS said in their statement. “The family Leptomerycidae were about the size of house cats and lived in North America from the late-middle Eocene (about 41 million years ago) to the end of the middle Miocene (about 11 million years ago). They are considered close relatives to the living chevrotains, or mouse deer, from the tropical forests of central and western Africa and southeast Asia.”
The new genus of deer has teeth very similar to Leptomeryx and a skull resembling that of the Pseudoparablastomeryx, officials said.
“Since it does not fit into either existing genus, [officials] concluded the deer must be placed into a new genus of its own,” NPS said.
A paleoartistic reconstruction of the newly named genus Santuccimeryx elissae, shown standing in front of hackberry bushes. Its small size (3-5 lbs), relatively large orbits, and shortened skull differentiate Santuccimeryx from the tiny Oligocene deer Leptomeryx. Illustration by Benji Paysnoe.
Illustration by Benji Paysnoe.
“I am both personally and professionally grateful to be associated with this important new fossil discovery from Badlands National Park, where I began my career as a paleontologist with the National Park Service in 1985,” Santucci said.
The research was prompted when the first — and still only known skull of the deer — was discovered at Badlands in 2016.
“It’s a really neat example with this paper to be able to highlight citizen science, because this is the only skull of this animal ever found,” Mattison Shreero, who headed up the research, said. “And if somebody had walked away with it, or if they just hadn’t reported it and it had eroded away, we would have never known about it.”
Visitors at Badlands who spot what they think might be a fossil or artifact are asked to leave it in place and submit a Visitor Site Report at the Visitor Center, with a park ranger, or by email information about their find to Badlands_fossil_finds@nps.gov.
Oklahoma didn’t suffer any strong wind damage this week, but wind farms in South Dakota certainly did.
Several wind turbines were toppled by the 130 MPH winds that hit the central part of the state Monday morning. They were described as straight line winds and not tornadoes. But the winds compared to those recorded in some tornadoes.
The 131-mph wind was recorded at Holabird in Hyde County at 6:15 a.m. local time.
A picture of the extensive damage showed at least 7 of the wind towers were bent over by the powerful Mother Nature.
According to a report by Energy News Beat, storm chaser Jakob McMillin documented the scene in a widely shared post on X (formerly Twitter), showing multiple wind turbine towers collapsed or heavily damaged, with blades and structural debris scattered across the prairie. In replies to his post, McMillin stated he observed “over 20” turbines destroyed or critically damaged.
The Affected Wind Farm
The damaged facility is the South Dakota Wind Energy Center (also known as the Highmore Wind Energy Project or Highmore Wind Farm), located approximately 10 miles south of Highmore.
- Number of turbines: 27
- Turbine model: GE Vernova 1.5s (1.5 MW each)
- Total nameplate capacity: 40.5 MW
- Commissioning year: 2003 (South Dakota’s first major wind farm)
- Owner/Operator: NextEra Energy Resources (formerly FPL Energy)
- Power purchaser: Basin Electric Power Cooperative
The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at June 29, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from June 29 drawing
10-14-41-53-59, Powerball: 03, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from June 29 drawing
08-13-29-30-31, Star Ball: 04, ASB: 03
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from June 29 drawing
04-25-26-31-36, Bonus: 04
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize
- Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
- Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
- Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.
When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Deliberately slowed rush-hour traffic in downtown Sioux Falls is serving as a preview for commuters ahead of a major, yearslong overhaul of the city’s aging viaduct overpasses.
And Downtown Sioux Falls Inc. is using the opportunity to study traffic patterns in advance of the reconstruction of the 10th and 11th street overpasses on the east end of the core commercial district. Though the state-led project is still years away, the temporary traffic-calming measures are helping engineers gather data on vehicle speeds, volumes and behaviors.
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