Giraffokeryx
| Giraffokeryx Temporal range: Miocene, 14–11Ma | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Giraffidae |
| Genus: | Giraffokeryx Pilgrim 1910[1] |
| Species | |
| |
Giraffokeryx is a fossil, medium-sized giraffid known from the Miocene of the Indian subcontinent and Eurasia. It is distinguished from other giraffids by the four ossicones on its head; one pair in front of the eyes on the anterior aspect of the frontal bone and the other behind the eyes in the fronto-parietal region overhanging the temporal fossae. It has a brachydont dentition like in other giraffids and legs and feet are of medium length.[2]
Giraffokeryx is considered monotypic by most authors, but other species have been assigned to the genus:
- G. chinjensis was assigned to the genus but later included within the extinct species Giraffa priscilla. The distribution of this latter species and Giraffokeryx punjabiensis indicates that the Himalayas still didn't act as a barrier for faunal dispersal during the middle Miocene.[3]
- G. anatoliensis, a partial skull with a post-orbital horn and isolated teeth from Turkey, had shorter and less inclined horns than G. punjabiensis.[4]
Although it bore a very superficial resemblance to the modern okapi, it was closely related to the sivatheres Bramatherium and Sivatherium.[5]
See also
Notes
- ↑ Giraffokeryx in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved June 2013.
- ↑ Bhatti et al. 2012, p. 1625
- ↑ Bhatti et al. 2012, pp. 1628–9
- ↑ Geraads & Aslan 2003
- ↑ http://www.infohub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8640 Retrieved 8 February 2011.
References
- Bhatti, Z.H.; Khan, M.A.; Khan, A.M.; Akhtar, M.; Ghaffar, A.; Iqbal, M.; Ikram, T. (December 2012). "Giraffokeryx (Artiodactyla: Mammalia) remains from the lower Siwaliks of Pakistan" (PDF). Pakistan Journal of Zoology 44 (6): 1623–31. OCLC 824419715. Retrieved June 2013.
- Geraads, D.; Aslan, F. (2003). "Giraffidae from the middle Miocene hominoid locality of Çandır (Turkey)" (PDF). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 240. OCLC 695125429. Retrieved June 2013.
- Pilgrim, G. E. (1910). "Notices of new mammalian genera and species from the Tertiaries of India". Records of the Geological Survey of India 40 (1): 63–71.