| Beatragus antiquus Temporal range: Late Pliocene - Early Pleistocene | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Alcelaphinae |
| Genus: | Beatragus |
| Species: | †B. antiquus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Beatragus antiquus Leakey, 1965 | |
Beatragus antiquus, the ancient hirola, is an extinct species of alcelaphine antelope that lived in Africa during the Plio-Pleistocene.
Beatragus antiquus was first described by Louis Leakey in 1965 from material discovered at the Olduvai Gorge (Beds I and II) in Tanzania. [1] Other remains dated slightly earlier have also been found in the Omo valley and possibly at Elandsfontein in South Africa. [2]
The ancient hirola was larger than the modern day hirola, and the two together may represent a chronospecies. [2] Other differences with the hirola include horn cores diverging immediately from their bases, a lessening of distal divergence, more upright insertions in side view and wider and more convex frontals of the horn cores. [3]
It lived in vast savannas alongside other alcelaphine antelopes, such as a small species of Damaliscus and Parmularius . [2] The ancient hirola probably declined as a result of diminished habitat preferences, and the modern species, with its smaller size and less energy demands, eventually evolved to cope with the new ecologically impoverished landscape. [4]
