''Numidocapra'' is an extinct genus of

bovid The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, bison, buffalo, antelopes, and caprines. A member of this family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species, the ...

from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Taxonomy

Originally placed in the subfamily

caprinae The subfamily Caprinae, also sometimes referred to as the tribe Caprini, is part of the ruminant family Bovidae, and consists of mostly medium-sized bovids. A member of this subfamily is called a caprine, or, more informally, a goat-antelope (a ...

, ''Numidocapra'' is now generally classified as a member of the subfamily

Alcelaphinae The subfamily Alcelaphinae or tribe Alcelaphini of the family Bovidae contains wildebeest, hartebeest, bonteboks, and several similar species. Depending on the classification, there are 6–10 species placed in four genera, although ''Beatragu ...

. Three species are considered valid. ''Numidocapra arambourgi'' was originally placed in its own genus, ''Rabaticeras''. It was at one point considered an ancestor of the

hartebeest The hartebeest (; ''Alcelaphus buselaphus''), also known as kongoni or kaama, is an African antelope. It is the only member of the genus ''Alcelaphus''. Eight subspecies have been described, including two sometimes considered to be indepen ...

, but this is not considered likely anymore. Another species, ''N. porrocornutus'', was previously placed in ''

Damaliscus ''Damaliscus'', commonly known as tsessebes, is a genus of antelope in the family Bovidae, subfamily Alcelaphinae The subfamily Alcelaphinae or tribe Alcelaphini of the family Bovidae contains wildebeest, hartebeest, bonteboks, and severa ...

''.

Description

These bovids had narrow, tall skulls typical of alcelaphines. The braincase roof is sloping with a straight profile. Their horns were curved upwards and forwards at side view, with frontals slightly raised at the horn bases. ''Numidocapra crassicornis'' was the largest member of the genus, probably around the size of a

wildebeest Wildebeest ( , , ), also called gnu ( or ), are antelopes of the genus ''Connochaetes'' and native to Eastern and Southern Africa. They belong to the family Bovidae, which includes true antelopes, cattle, goats, sheep, and other even-toe ...

. It had long, upright horn cores that ran parallel to each other, while ''Numidocapra arambourgi'' was smaller and had diverging, twisted horns.

References

{{Taxonbar, from= Q20721988 Prehistoric bovids Pleistocene even-toed ungulates Pleistocene mammals of Africa Prehistoric mammal genera