''Oioceros'' is an extinct genus of spiral-horned

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...

from the late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first 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 means "less recen ...

. Its fossils have been found in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, and

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 ...

. It was first discovered by Wagner in 1857, and contains nine species, ''O. rothii'', ''O. atropatenes'', ''O. jiulongkouensis'', ''O. noverca'', ''O. robustus'', ''O. stenocephalus'', ''O. lishanensis'', ''O. wegneri'', and ''O. tanyceras''. Former species include ''O. grangeri'' (Pilgrim, 1934), now recognized as the genus '' Sinomegoceros'', and ''O. xiejiaensis'' (Li and Qui; 1980), now recognized as the genus '' Sinopalaeoceros''. ''Oioceros'' somewhat resembled a

gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third f ...

Description

In 1997, an almost complete skull of ''O. rothii'' proved that it was similar to '' Samotragus praecursor'', with a short face, compared to its relatively long

braincase In human anatomy, the neurocranium, also known as the braincase, brainpan, or brain-pan is the upper and back part of the skull, which forms a protective case around the brain. In the human skull, the neurocranium includes the calvaria or skul ...

, and isolated horn cores. However, unlike ''S. praecursor'', ''O. rothii'' had a jaw of primarily

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

teeth, which were longer than the molars found in the latter. Pilgrim and Hopwood described the genus as being "small size with long slender muzzle; face bent down on basicranial axis either slightly or to a moderate extent; orbits with expanded orbital roof; horn-cores twisted counter-clockwise in a fairly close spiral of one or two revolutions, widely separate, tilted backward or fairly upright, divergent, with a cross-section almost circular or elliptical, keeled either anteriorly or posteriorly or both; dentition moderately hypsodont, premolar series rather long and slender, molars broad with ribs of medium strength" (Pilgrim and Hopwood, 1928, p. 24). The horn cores of ''Oioceros'' have a

torsion Torsion may refer to: Science * Torsion (mechanics), the twisting of an object due to an applied torque * Torsion of spacetime, the field used in Einstein–Cartan theory and ** Alternatives to general relativity * Torsion angle, in chemistry Bio ...

Species

*''Oioceros rothii'' was first named by Wagner in 1857. He originally had the specimen he had found in

Pikermi, Greece Pikermi ( el, Πικέρμι) is a suburb of Athens and a former community of East Attica regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rafina-Pikermi, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal u ...

, under the name ''"Antilope rothii"''. In 1902, Gaillard reassigned the species to ''Oioceros rothii''. *''Oioceros atropatenes'' was first named by Rodler & Weithofer in 1890. *''Oioceros jiulongkouensis'' was first named by G. Chen and W. Wu in 1976. *''Oioceros noverca'' was first named by Pilgrim in 1934. *''Oioceros robustus'' was first named by Chen and Wu in 1976. *''Oioceros stenocephalus'' was first named by Chen and Wu in 1976. *''Oioceros wegneri'' was first named by Andree in 1926. It possibly represents an entirely different genus of sheep.

References

External links

''Oioceros''
at the

Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Pale ...

''Oioceras tanyceras''
at Zipcodezoo.com
UAE Interact - A Walk Through Time
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7081518 Sheep Prehistoric bovids Miocene even-toed ungulates Fossil taxa described in 1902 Prehistoric even-toed ungulate genera

Description

Species

References

Further reading

External links