Polemonium Reptans

by | Apr 16, 2018 | Polemonium Reptans

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Damaliscus niro is an extinct species of antelope that lived in Africa throughout the Pleistocene, as recently as 63,000 years ago.[1]

Taxonomy

Arthur Tindell Hopwood described Damaliscus niro as Hippotragus niro in 1936 from a horn core collected by L.S.B. Leakey from a site at the Olduvai Gorge. In 1965, Gentry transferred the species from Hippotragus to Damaliscus.[2]

Distribution and age

Damaliscus niro is mostly known from the Early to Middle Pleistocene of eastern and southern Africa.[3][4] In 2008, some Late Pleistocene remains of D. niro were found near Plovers Lake in South Africa, dated to between 89,000 and 63,000 BP.[5]

Description

Damaliscus niro has backwards curving horn cores with well-spaced, strong transverse ridges on their front surface.[6] Isotopic evidence from Mid Pleistocene specimens suggest a diet dominated by C4 grasses.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Faith, J. Tyler (2014). "Late Pleistocene and Holocene mammal extinctions on continental Africa". Earth-Science Reviews. 128: 105–121. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.10.009.
  2. ^ Gentry, A.W. (1965). "New evidence on the systematic position of Hippotragus niro Hopwood, 1936 (Mammalia)". Journal of Natural History. Series 13. 8 (90): 335–338. doi:10.1080/00222936508651577.
  3. ^ Cooke, H.B. (1974). "The geology, archaeology and fossil mammals of the Cornelia Beds, Orange Free State". Mem. Natl. Mus. Bloemfontein. 35: 1–109.
  4. ^ Vrba, E.S (1997). "New fossils of Alcelaphini and Caprinae (Bovidae, Mammalia) from Awash, Ethiopia, and phylogenetic analysis of Alcelaphini". Paleontol. Afr. 34: 127–198. S2CID 130738669.
  5. ^ de Ruiter, D.J. (2008). "Faunal assemblage composition and paleoenvironment of Plovers Lake, a Middle Stone Age locality in Gauteng Province, South Africa". Journal of Human Evolution. 55 (6): 1102–1117. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.07.011. PMID 18954892.
  6. ^ Bubenik, Anthony B. (2012). Horns, Pronghorns, and Antlers: Evolution, Morphology, Physiology, and Social Significance. Springer New York. p. 215. ISBN 9781461389668.
  7. ^ Codron, D. (2008). "The evolution of ecological specialization in southern African ungulates: competition or physical environmental turnover". Oikos. 117 (3): 334–353. doi:10.1111/j.2007.0030-1299.16387.x.
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