Tragoportax
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''Tragoportax'' is an extinct
mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
belonging to the Bovidae.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 ...
(
Vallesian The Vallesian age is a period of geologic time (11.6–9.0 Ma) within the Miocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. It precedes the Turolian age and follows the Astaracian age. The so-called Vallesian Crisis resulted in the e ...
-
Turolian The Turolian age is a period of geologic time (9.0–5.3 Ma) within the Miocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. It precedes the Ruscinian age and follows the Vallesian age. The Turolian overlaps the Tortonian The Tortoni ...
, about 11 - 7 million years ago) and its fossil remains have been found in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
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 ...
.

Description

''Tragoportax'' could reach a considerable size: the largest specimens must have weighed up to 200 kilograms. It had long legs, a
skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
with a short snout and elongated rear skull, while the antlers were large and curved backwards; the antlers of females and young were smaller and thinner than those of adult males. The cross-section of the horns was usually triangular or subtriangular; the horns had a well-marked posterolateral keel and flat sides. Compared to those of the related species ''
Miotragocerus ''Miotragocerus'', also known as the European eland, is an extinct species of antelope that once lived in Europe in 10 to 8 million years ago. They were most likely browsers Browse, browser or browsing may refer to: Programs * Web browser, a ...
'', the horns were less laterally compressed. The
teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...
were high-crowned and fitted with dental cement, like those of the present-day
nilgai The nilgai (''Boselaphus tragocamelus'') (, literally meaning "blue cow") is the largest Asian antelope and is ubiquitous across the northern Indian subcontinent. It is the sole member of the genus ''Boselaphus'' and was described by Peter Sim ...
, to which it was closely related. In general, the appearance of ''Tragoportax'' must have been reminiscent of that of some present-day large
antelopes 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 mammal ...
, such as the
waterbuck The waterbuck (''Kobus ellipsiprymnus'') is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus '' Kobus'' of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. Its 13 subspecies ar ...
.


Classification

The first fossils of this animal were described in 1854 by Roth and Wagner under the name ''Capra amalthea'', and a few years later (1861) Gaudry thought it appropriate to reclassify these fossils into a genus of their own (''Tragocerus''). The name ''Tragocerus'', however, had already been used years earlier, in 1821, by Dejean to describe an
insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
,1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...
 who coined the generic name ''Tragoportax''.Boselaphini Boselaphini is a tribe of bovines. It contains only two extant genera, each with a single extant species. Description The Boselaphini or four-horned antelope tribe are the last survivors of a form very similar to that of the ancestors of the br ...
. However, because of their distinct appearance from the nilgai (they were more superficially similar to waterbuck or members of the genus ''
Tragelaphus ''Tragelaphus'' is a genus of medium- to large-sized, spiral-horned antelopes. It contains several species of bovines, all of which are relatively antelope-like. Species in this genus tend to be large in size and lightly built, and have long nec ...
''), they have been ascribed to a distinct group, the Tragocerini. Several species are known from the genus Tragoportax: the type species is ''T. salmontanus'', described by Pilgrim in 1937 on the basis of fossils found on the
Siwalik The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the Indian ...
s in Pakistan; other well-known species are ''T. amalthea'', well known thanks to several fossils found in the Greek deposit of
Pikermi 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 ...
, and ''T. rugosifrons'', widespread (Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, Pakistan, Iran). Other lesser-known species are ''T. maius'' of Georgia and Azerbaijan, ''T. cyrenaicus'' of Libya, ''T. macedoniensis'' of Greece and ''T. acrae'' of South Africa. The latter species may have been the last to disappear, in the early Pliocene, and was originally ascribed to a separate genus ('' Mesembriportax''). Another well-known species often ascribed to ''Tragoportax'' is ''T. gaudryi'', from various European deposits: however, this form has been reclassified as a species of the related genus ''Miotragocerus''.

Paleobiology

The long legs of ''Tragoportax'' indicate that this animal was a fast-running, moving quickly across open, forested plains, and was probably also a good jumper. Some species of this animal have left numerous fossil remains (e.g. ''T. rugosifrons'' at the Hadjidimovo site in Bulgaria); a study by from 2004 indicated that in ''Tragoportax'' there was strong
sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
based on the shape and size of the horns.Spassov N. & Geraads D. 2004. - Tragoportax Pilgrim, 1937 and Miotragocerus Stromer, 1928 (Mammalia, Bovidae) from the Turolian of Hadjidimovo, Bulgaria, and a revision of the late Miocene Mediterranean Boselaphini. Geodiversitas 26 (2): 339-370. This dimorphism would indicate that ''Tragoportax'' was a moderately gregarious and partially territorial animal, with well-developed visual signals of intraspecific
display Display may refer to: Technology * Display device, output device for presenting information, including: ** Cathode ray tube, video display that provides a quality picture, but can be very heavy and deep ** Electronic visual display, output devi ...
. It is possible that there were herds with a dominant male, or perhaps entire herds composed of males. This would indicate that the
ecological niche In ecology, a niche is the match of a species to a specific environmental condition. Three variants of ecological niche are described by It describes how an organism or population responds to the distribution of resources and competitors (for ...
of ''Tragoportax'' was more connected to open spaces than another very similar antelope found in the same locality (''Miotragocerus''), which must have preferred more open spaces.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15055090 Bovines Prehistoric bovids Mammals described in 1854 Fossil taxa described in 1854 Prehistoric even-toed ungulate genera