| Cebu tamaraw Temporal range: Pleistocene - Holocene |
|
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Bovinae |
| Genus: | Bubalus |
| Species: | B. cebuensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Bubalus cebuensis Croft, Heaney, Flynn, and Bautista, 2006 |
|
The Cebu tamaraw (Bubalus cebuensis) is a fossil dwarf buffalo discovered in the Philippines, and first described in 2006.
Contents |
The most distinctive feature of B. cebuensis was its small size. Large contemporary domestic water buffalo stand six feet at the shoulder and can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, B. cebuensis would have stood only two-and-one-half feet and weighed about 350 pounds, smaller than another dwarf species B. mindorensis.[1][2]
The fossil specimen is likely Pleistocene or Holocene in age.[1]
The fossil was discovered in a horizontal tunnel in soft karst at approximately 50 m elevation in K-Hill near Balamban, Cebu Island, Philippines by mining engineer Michael Armas.[3] The fossil was donated to America's Field Museum where it stayed un-analysed for almost 50 years.