Damaliscus niro explained

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]

Notes and References

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