| Gallogoral Temporal range: Pliocene-Pleistocene | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Caprinae |
| Genus: | † Gallogoral Guérin, 1965 |
| Species | |
| |
Gallogoral is an extinct genus of caprine that lived in Europe during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs.
The species G. meneghinii has been found in France, [1] [2] [3] Italy, [4] [5] Greece, [6] and Georgia. [7]
Fossil remains from Coste San Giacomo, dating to about 2.1 Ma, show G. meneghinii to have been a mixed feeder. [8] [9] However, remains from the site of Olivola dating to around the time of the Gelasian-Calabrian transition instead suggest that G. meneghinii was a grazer, as evidenced by its dental wear showing signs of heavy consumption of grass, grit, and dust. It had a preference for mountainous habitats. [10]
Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals collectively called elephants and mammoths. These are large terrestrial mammals with a snout modified into a trunk and teeth modified into tusks. Most genera and species in the family are extinct. Only two genera, Loxodonta and Elephas, are living.
Elephas is one of two surviving genera in the family of elephants, Elephantidae, with one surviving species, the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus. Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to the genus, extending back to the Pliocene or possibly the late Miocene.
Megaloceros is an extinct genus of deer whose members lived throughout Eurasia from the Pleistocene to the early Holocene. The type and only undisputed member of the genus, Megaloceros giganteus, vernacularly known as the "Irish elk" or "giant deer", is also the best known. Fallow deer are thought to be their closest living relatives. Megaloceros has been suggested to be closely related to other genera of "giant deer", like the East Asian genus Sinomegaceros, and the European Praemegaceros.
Crocuta is a genus of hyena containing the largest extant member of the family, the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Several fossil species are also known, with the Pleistocene Eurasian cave hyenas either being regarded as distinct species or subspecies of the spotted hyena.
Panthera spelaea, commonly known as the cave lion, is an extinct Panthera species that was native to Eurasia and northwest North America during the Pleistocene epoch. Genetic analysis of ancient DNA has revealed that while closely related, it was a distinct species genetically isolated from the modern lion, with the genetic divergence between the two species estimated at around 500,000 years ago. The earliest fossils of the P. spelaea lineage in Eurasia date to around 700,000 years ago. It is closely related and probably ancestral to the American lion. The species ranged from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America, and was a prominent member of the mammoth steppe fauna, and an important apex predator across its range. It became extinct about 13,000 years ago. It closely resembled living lions with a coat of yellowish-grey fur though unlike extant lions, males appear to have lacked manes.
Toxodon is an extinct genus of large ungulate native to South America from the Pliocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. Toxodon is a member of Notoungulata, an order of extinct South American native ungulates distinct from the two living ungulate orders that had been indigenous to the continent for over 60 million years since the early Cenozoic, prior to the arrival of living ungulates into South America around 2.5 million years ago during the Great American Interchange. Toxodon is a member of the family Toxodontidae, which includes medium to large sized herbivores. Toxodon was one of the largest members of Toxodontidae and Notoungulata, with Toxodon platensis having an estimated body mass of 1,000–1,200 kilograms (2,200–2,600 lb).
The Chibanian, more widely known as Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. The Chibanian name was officially ratified in January 2020. It is currently estimated to span the time between 0.770 Ma and 0.129 Ma, also expressed as 770–126 ka. It includes the transition in palaeoanthropology from the Lower to the Middle Paleolithic over 300 ka.
Acinonyx pardinensis, sometimes called the Giant cheetah, is an extinct felid species belonging to the genus Acinonyx, closely related to the cheetah, native to Eurasia during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. It was substantially larger than the living cheetah.
Leptobos is an extinct genus of large bovine, known from the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene of Eurasia, extending from the Iberian Peninsula to northern China. Species of Leptobos weighed on average 320 kilograms (710 lb). The dietary preference across the genus includes species that were browsers, grazers and mixed feeders. The first appearance of Leptobos in Europe around 3.6-3.5 million years ago is considered to define the beginning of the Villafranchian European faunal stage. Leptobos is considered to be closely related to the insular genus Epileptobos from the Pleistocene of Java, and is considered to be ancestral to Bison. Leptobos became extinct after being replaced by their descendant Bison during the Early Pleistocene, after a period of temporal overlap. "Leptobos" syrticus from Libya likely belongs in a different genus.
Stephanorhinus is an extinct genus of two-horned rhinoceros native to Eurasia and North Africa that lived during the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene. Species of Stephanorhinus were the predominant and often only species of rhinoceros in much of temperate Eurasia, especially Europe, for most of the Pleistocene. The last two species of Stephanorhinus – Merck's rhinoceros and the narrow-nosed rhinoceros – went extinct during the last glacial period.
The narrow-nosed rhinoceros, also known as the steppe rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros belonging to the genus Stephanorhinus that lived in western Eurasia, including Europe, as well as North Africa during the Pleistocene. It first appeared in Europe around 500,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene and survived there until at least 34,000 years Before Present. It was native to temperate and Mediterranean environments, where it fed on low growing plants and to a lesser extent woody plants. Evidence has been found that it was exploited for food by archaic humans, including Neanderthals.
Pliocrocuta is an extinct genus of hyena. It contains the species Pliocrocuta perrieri, known from the Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of Eurasia and possibly Africa. It is possibly ancestral to Pachycrocuta. The species is estimated to have weighed around 56 kilograms (123 lb) on average, with its skull showing evidence for adaptation to bone cracking.
Mammuthus rumanus is a species of mammoth that lived during the Pliocene in Eurasia. It the oldest mammoth species known outside of Africa.
Soergelia is a genus of extinct ovibovine caprine that was common across Europe, North America and Asia in the Pleistocene epoch.
Equus stenonis is an extinct species of equine that lived in Western Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene.
Elephas planifrons is an extinct species of elephant, known from the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene of the Indian subcontinent.
Gazella borbonica is an extinct gazelle which existed in Europe during the Early Pleistocene epoch. It was described by Charles Depéret in 1884. It had rather long, moderately divergent and slightly recurved horns and was about the same size as the modern Dorcas Gazelle, with a shoulder height of about 60 cm. Fossil remains have been found in Italy, France, the Netherlands and south-east England. Taxonomic synonyms include Gazella anglica Newton, 1884 and Gazella daviesii Hinton, 1906. The species was the last surviving gazelle in Europe, with the species becoming extinct around 1.8 million years ago.
Croizetoceros is an extinct genus of deer which lived throughout much of Europe, first appearing during the last stages of the Miocene and living until the Early Pleistocene.
The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT), also known as the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (MPR), is a fundamental change in the behaviour of glacial cycles during the Quaternary glaciations. The transition lasted around 550,000 years, from 1.25 million years ago until 0.7 million years ago approximately, in the Pleistocene epoch. Before the MPT, the glacial cycles were dominated by a 41,000-year periodicity with low-amplitude, thin ice sheets, and a linear relationship to the Milankovitch forcing from axial tilt. Because of this, sheets were more dynamic during the Early Pleistocene. After the MPT there have been strongly asymmetric cycles with long-duration cooling of the climate and build-up of thick ice sheets, followed by a fast change from extreme glacial conditions to a warm interglacial. This led to less dynamic ice sheets. Interglacials before the MPT had lower levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide compared to interglacials after the MPT. One of the MPT's effects was causing ice sheets to become higher in altitude and less slippery compared to before. The MPT greatly increased the reservoirs of hydrocarbons locked up as permafrost methane or methane clathrate during glacial intervals. This led to larger methane releases during deglaciations. The cycle lengths have varied, with an average length of approximately 100,000 years.
Dama clactoniana is an extinct species of fallow deer. It lived during the Middle Pleistocene. It is widely agreed to be the Dama species most closely related and likely ancestral to the two living species of fallow deer and like them has palmate antlers.