Pelorovis

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Pelorovis
Temporal range: Early
Ma
↓
Pelorovis oldowayensis Skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: †Pelorovis
Reck, 1928
Species
  • †Pelorovis howelli Hadjouis & Sahnouni, 2005
  • †Pelorovis kaisensis Geraads & Thomas, 1994
  • †Pelorovis oldowayensis Reck, 1928
  • †Pelorovis turkanensis Harris, 1991

Pelorovis ("prodigious/monstrous

African buffalo
.

Taxonomy

The genus was first described by

palaeontologist. The holotype
is a fossil skull and assorted bones kept in Berlin.

The species P. kaisensis was named in 1994 from Kaiso, Uganda. Hadjouis and Sahnouni considered it to be closer to Syncerus in 2005.[3]

Systematics

A 2007 study by Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro and colleagues of the

Bos primigenius in their studies of African fossil bovids, and that the Asian species of Bos may have been derived from other fossil species. Lastly, Hassanin notes that if Pelorovis is reduced into synonymy due to these studies, this also implies the other Pleistocene fossil genera Leptobos and Epileptobos are synonymous with Bos.[5]

A 2018 study by Tong et al. of the Chinese fossil representation of Bos primigenius uses morphology to dispute these conclusions regarding these taxa belonging to the genus Bos, as well as if they are the ancestral line from which Bos evolved, instead hewing to the traditional interpretation that the Indian Early Pleistocene fossil species Bos acutifrons is the primordial ancestor of Bos.[6]

Asian water buffalo
(Bubalus bubalis) and classified it as Bubalus antiquus. Several other fossils of S. antiquus were described under the names Bubalus bainii and Bubalus nilssoni.

In 1949,

Cape buffalo, invalidating the genus. It was subsequently moved to Pelorovis in 1978.[10][11] However, a link with the living Cape buffalo has been noted based on morphological and systematic grounds, and since 1994 it has been suggested that P. antiquus be moved into Syncerus.[12] This proposal has since gained widespread acceptance.[13]

Etymology

The

Latin ovis, meaning "sheep".[15]

Description

Syncerus antiquus, P. turkanensis & P. oldowayensis (from left to right)

Pelorovis resembled an

fossilisation) they could have been up to twice this length.[16] The horns pointed away from the head, each forming a half circle in the species Pelorovis oldowayensis and P. turkanensis.[2]

P. oldowayensis was broadly the same size as modern African buffalo, but its legs were longer, and the elongated head of this species was reminiscent to those of the modern Alcelaphinae.

Distribution

P. oldowayensis occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and disappeared 800,000 years ago. The best fossils of P. oldowayensis are known from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9780691156828
    . Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-231-11944-5
    (pp. 159-167)
  3. ^
    S2CID 55104027
    . Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  4. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.02.016
    . Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  5. ^ Hassanin, Alexandre (January 2014). "Systematic and evolution of Bovini". In Melletti, D.R.; Burton, J. (eds.). Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour of Wild Cattle: Implications for Conservation. Cambridge University Press. pp. 7–21.
  6. doi:10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.170722
    . Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  7. ^ Duvernoy, Georges Louis (December 1851). "note sur une espèce de buffle fossile [Bubalis (Arni) antiquus], découverte en Algérie, caractérisée et décrite par M. Duvernoy". Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des Sciences (in French). 33: 595–597. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  8. doi:10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.1875
    . Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  9. doi:10.1080/00222934908526730
    .
  10. ISBN 9780674431256
    .
  11. S2CID 55104027
    . Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  12. doi:10.1006/jasc.1994.1072
    .
  13. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.10.009
    .
  14. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940). "πέλωρ-". A Greek–English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  15. Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879). "Ovis". A Latin Dictionary
    . Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  16. ISBN 978-1-84028-152-1
    .
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