Shrub-ox
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| Shrub-ox | ||||||||||||||
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Fossil
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| Euceratherium collinum Owen, 1838 |
The Shrub-ox (Euceratherium collinum) (= Preptoceras, Aftonius) is an extinct genus and species of Bovidae native to North America. It is a close relative to the musk-ox.
Euceratherium was one of the first bovids to enter North America. It appeared on this continent during the early Pleistocene, long before the first bisons arrived from Eurasia. It went extinct about 11,500 years ago.
Late Pleistocene Shrub-ox remains are known from fossil finds spanning from northern California to central Mexico. In the East they were distributed at least into Illinois.
Euceratherium was massive built and in size between a modern American bison and a musk ox. They were probably grazers and seem to have preferred hilly landscapes.
[edit] Literature
- P. S. Martin: Quaternary Extinctions. The University of Arizona Press, 1984 ISBN 0-8165-1100-4
- Grundzüge der Faunen- und Verbreitungsgeschichte der Säugetiere, E. Thenius, 2.Auflage, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, 1980
