''Giraffokeryx'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of medium-sized giraffids known from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

and

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

. It is distinguished from other giraffids by the four

ossicone Ossicones are columnar or conical skin-covered bone structures on the heads of giraffes, male okapi, and some of their extinct relatives. Ossicones are distinguished from the superficially similar structures of horns and antlers by their uniqu ...

s on its head; one pair in front of the eyes on the anterior aspect of the

frontal bone The frontal bone is a bone in the human skull. The bone consists of two portions.'' Gray's Anatomy'' (1918) These are the vertically oriented squamous part, and the horizontally oriented orbital part, making up the bony part of the forehead, pa ...

and the other behind the eyes in the fronto parietal region overhanging the

temporal fossa The temporal fossa is a fossa (shallow depression) on the side of the skull bounded by the temporal lines and terminating below the level of the zygomatic arch. Boundaries * Medial: frontal bone, parietal bone, temporal bone, and sphenoid bon ...

e. It has a

brachydont The molars or molar teeth are large, flat teeth at the back of the mouth. They are more developed in mammals. They are used primarily to grind food during chewing. The name ''molar'' derives from Latin, ''molaris dens'', meaning "millstone to ...

dentition like in other giraffids and its legs and feet are of medium length. ''Giraffokeryx'' is considered

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

by most authors, in the form of ''G. punjabiensis'', but other species have been assigned to the genus: * ''G. chinjensis'' was assigned to the genus, but later included within the extinct species ''

Giraffa The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, ''Giraffa camelopardalis ...

priscilla''. The distribution of this latter species and ''G. punjabiensis'' indicates that the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

still did not act as a barrier for faunal dispersal during the middle Miocene. * ''G. anatoliensis'', a partial skull with a postorbital horn and isolated teeth from Turkey, had shorter and less inclined horns than ''G. punjabiensis''.Geraads, D., Aslan, F. Giraffidae from the middle Miocene hominoid locality of Çandır (Turkey) 2003 ''Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg'' 240 http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/06/45/77/PDF/Geraads175.pdf 695125429 ''Giraffokeryx'' resembled either an

okapi The okapi (; ''Okapia johnstoni''), also known as the forest giraffe, Congolese giraffe, or zebra giraffe, is an artiodactyl mammal that is endemic to the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. It is the only species ...

or a small giraffe. It is a possible ancestor of both.

See also

References

Further reading