Damaliscus niro is an extinct species of antelope that lived in Africa throughout the Pleistocene, as recently as 63,000 years ago.[1]
Taxonomy
Arthur Tindell Hopwood described Damaliscus niro as Hippotragus niro in 1936 from a horn core collected by L.S.B. Leakey from a site at the Olduvai Gorge. In 1965, Gentry transferred the species from Hippotragus to Damaliscus.[2]
Distribution and age
Damaliscus niro is mostly known from the Early to Middle Pleistocene of eastern and southern Africa.[3][4] In 2008, some Late Pleistocene remains of D. niro were found near Plovers Lake in South Africa, dated to between 89,000 and 63,000 BP.[5]
Description
Damaliscus niro has backwards curving horn cores with well-spaced, strong transverse ridges on their front surface.[6] Isotopic evidence from Mid Pleistocene specimens suggest a diet dominated by C4 grasses.[7]
^Cooke, H.B. (1974). "The geology, archaeology and fossil mammals of the Cornelia Beds, Orange Free State". Mem. Natl. Mus. Bloemfontein. 35: 1–109.
^Vrba, E.S (1997). "New fossils of Alcelaphini and Caprinae (Bovidae, Mammalia) from Awash, Ethiopia, and phylogenetic analysis of Alcelaphini". Paleontol. Afr. 34: 127–198. S2CID130738669.
^Bubenik, Anthony B. (2012). Horns, Pronghorns, and Antlers: Evolution, Morphology, Physiology, and Social Significance. Springer New York. p. 215. ISBN9781461389668.
^Codron, D. (2008). "The evolution of ecological specialization in southern African ungulates: competition or physical environmental turnover". Oikos. 117 (3): 334–353. doi:10.1111/j.2007.0030-1299.16387.x.
