Euceratherium

Last updated

Shrubox
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene 1.1–0.013  Ma
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Preptoceras sinclairi.jpg
Mounted skeleton (with missing ribs)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Caprinae
Tribe: Ovibovini
Genus:† Euceratherium
Furlong & Sinclair, 1904
Type species
†Euceratherium collinum
Furlong & Sinclair, 1904
Other species
  • †Euceratherium bizzelli
    Stovall, 1937 [1]
Synonyms
  • Aftonius calviniHay, 1913
  • Preptoceras sinclairiFurlong, 1905

Euceratherium, also called the shrubox, is an extinct genus of ovibovine caprine known from the Pleistocene of North America and China. To specieshave been proposed: the type species Euceratherium collinum named in 1904, and a second species Euceratherium bizzelli, named in 1937. Some researchers have expressed that the differences between these species may actually be individual variation, or variation within a single species. [2]

Contents

Taxonomy

Euceratherium.jpg
Euceratherium BW.jpg
Life restoration from 1913 by Robert Bruce Horsfall (top) and modern restoration (bottom) of E. collinum

Euceratherium collinum was formally described in 1904. [3] The species is considered to be closely related to the living muskox, as well as extinct genera like Bootherium . [4]

Distribution

The earliest fossils of the genus are known from the Early Pleistocene of China, from which it then migrated into North America. [4] Late Pleistocene shrubox remains are known from fossil finds spanning from what is now Northern California to Guatemala. Alongside the fellow extinct ovibovine Speleotherium , it is one of the southernmost known caprines in North America. [5]

Description

Euceratherium has been estimated to weight approximately 450 kilograms (990 lb). [6]

Ecology

Based on preserved dung pellets, it has been established that Euceratherium was a browser with a diet of trees and shrubs. [7] They seem to have preferred hilly landscapes.

References

  1. ↑ Stovall, J. Willis (1937). "Euceratherium bizzelli, a new ungulate from Oklahoma". Journal of Paleontology. 11 (5): 450–455. ISSN   0022-3360.
  2. ↑ Simpson, George Gaylord (1963). "A New Record of Euceratherium or Preptoceras (Extinct Bovidae) in New Mexico". Journal of Mammalogy. 44 (4): 583. doi:10.2307/1377152.
  3. ↑ Furlong, E. L. & Sinclair, W. J. (1904). Preliminary description of Euceratherium collinum. University of California Publications, American Archaeology and Ethnology, 2:18.
  4. 1 2 Bai, Weipeng; Dong, Wei; Zhang, Limin (July 15, 2024). "The first confirmation of North American extinct shrub-ox (Euceratherium, Artiodactyla, Mammalia) in the Early Pleistocene of northern China" . Quaternary Science Reviews. 336 108777. Bibcode:2024QSRv..33608777B. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108777.
  5. ↑ White, Richard S.; Mead, Jim I.; Morgan, Gary S. (2025). "Logan's austral scrubox, a new ovibovine (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Bovidae) from Muskox Cave, Eddy County, New Mexico". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Bulletin 101: 473–494.
  6. ↑ Smith, Felisa A.; Elliott Smith, Rosemary E.; Lyons, S. Kathleen; Payne, Jonathan L. (2018-04-20). "Body size downgrading of mammals over the late Quaternary" . Science. 360 (6386): 310–313. Bibcode:2018Sci...360..310S. doi:10.1126/science.aao5987. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   29674591.
  7. ↑ Kropf, M.; Mead, J. I.; Anderson, R. S. (January 2007). "Dung, diet, and the paleoenvironment of the extinct shrub-ox (Euceratherium collinum) on the Colorado Plateau, USA". Quaternary Research. 67 (1). Elsevier: 143–151. Bibcode:2007QuRes..67..143K. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2006.10.002. Accessed 2008-08-19.

Further reading


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