Palaeotragus

Palaeotragus Temporal range: Miocene–Early Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeletal mount, Tianjin Natural History Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Giraffidae
Genus:	† Palaeotragus [1]
Type species
†Palaeotragus rouenii Gaudry, 1861
Species
†P. berislavicus †P. coelophrys †Palaeotragus germaini †P. inexspectatus (Samson & Radulesco, 1966) †P. microdon †Palaeotragus? primaevus

Palaeotragus ("ancient goat") is a genus of very large, primitive, okapi-like giraffids from the Miocene to Early Pleistocene of Africa and Eurasia.

Palaeotragus primaevus is the older species, being found in early to mid-Miocene strata, while P. germaini is found in Late Miocene strata. P. primaevus is distinguished from P. germaini by the lack of ossicones. It was also the smaller species, being a little under 2 m (6 ft 7 in) at the shoulders. P. germaini had a pair of ossicones, and in life, it would have resembled either a short-necked, 3 m (9.8 ft) tall giraffe, or a gargantuan okapi.

Palaeotragus inexspectatus from the Early Pleistocene of Greece represents the youngest giraffid in Europe. ^[2]

P. microdon fossil

References

1. Gaudry 1861
2. Laskos, Kostantis; Kostopoulos, Dimitris S (2024-05-17). "On the last European giraffe, Palaeotragus inexspectatus (Mammalia: Giraffidae); new remains from the Early Pleistocene of Greece and a review of the species". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 203 (2) zlae056. doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae056 . ISSN   0024-4082.

Further reading

• Gaudry, Albert (1861). "Paléontologie. — Résultats des fouilles entreprises en Grèce sous les auspices de l'Académie". Comptes-rendus de l'Académie des Sciences. Vol. 53. Paris. p. 239. OCLC   469002103.

External links

• Media related to Palaeotragus at Wikimedia Commons