Leptobos Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene | |
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Skeleton of Leptobos etruscus | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Bovidae |
Subfamily: | Bovinae |
Genus: | † Leptobos Rütimeyer, 1878 |
Species | |
See text |
Leptobos is an extinct genus of large bovine, known from the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene of Eurasia.
The range of Leptobos extended from the Iberian Peninsula to northern China. [1] L. merlai is known from the Early Pleistocene of central Italy. [2]
Species of Leptobos weighed on average 320 kilograms (710 lb). [3]
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. [4] Leptobos is considered to be closely related to the insular genus Epileptobos from the Pleistocene of Java [5] , and is considered to be ancestral to Bison . [1] [6] Leptobos became extinct after being replaced by their descendant Bison during the Early Pleistocene, after a period of temporal overlap. [1] [6] "Leptobos" syrticus from Libya likely belongs in a different genus. [5]
The dietary preference across the genus includes species that were browsers, [7] grazers [8] and mixed feeders. [9] Ecomorphological analysis of its humerus suggests that L. etruscus was adapted for open grassland habitats. [10]