[1][2] Palaeomerycids were a group of horned, long-legged and massive ruminants that could attain a weight of 350 to 500 kg (770 to 1,100 lb).

One of the first known members of this group, Palaeomeryx, was thought to be a hornless form distantly related to the Giraffidae before paleontologist Miguel Crusafont found remains of Triceromeryx in middle Miocene Spain.

This Palaeomeryx-like form carried two ossicones over its orbits that were straight and short, similar to those of true giraffids.

Ampelomeryx, a genus of palaeomerycids found at the early Miocene sites of Els Casots, Valles-Penedes Basin, Spain, and Montréal-du-Gers, Gers, France, had a three-horned system of appendages similar to those of Triceromeryx.

The family was assigned to the Artiodactyla by Hulbert and Whitmore (2006), and to Cervoidea by Carroll (1988), Sach and Heizmann (2001) and Prothero and Liter (2007).