''Leptobos'' is an extinct genus of large bovine, known from the Late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Early Pleistocene The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, being the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently estimated to span the time ...

of Eurasia, extending from the Iberian Peninsula to northern China. Species of ''Leptobos'' reached a weight up to 320 kg. ''Leptobos'' is considered to be closely related to the insular genus '' Epileptobos'' from the Pleistocene of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

'''', and is considered to be ancestral to ''

Bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North A ...

''. The dietary preference across the genus includes species that were browsers, grazers and mixed feeders (both browsing and grazing). The first appearance of ''Leptobos'' in Europe around 3.6-3.5 million years ago is considered to define the beginning of the

Villafranchian Villafranchian age ( ) is a period of geologic time (3.5–1.0 Ma) spanning the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. Named by Italian geologist Lorenzo Pareto for a sequence of terrestrial se ...

European faunal stage. ''Leptobos'' became extinct after being replaced by their descendant ''Bison'' during the Early Pleistocene, after a period of temporal overlap. "''Leptobos" syrticus'' from Libya likely belongs in a different genus.

Species

* ''Leptobos brevicornis'' (China) * ''Leptobos crassus'' (China) * ''Leptobos falconeri'' (Pakistan) * ''Leptobos stenometopon'' (France and Italy) * ''Leptobos merlai'' (France and Italy) * ''Leptobos furtivus'' (France also possibly Italy) * ''Leptobos etruscus'' (France, Italy, and Spain) * ''Leptobos vallisarni'' (Italy and China)

References

External links

*http://www.helsinki.fi/~mhaaramo/metazoa/deuterostoma/chordata/synapsida/eutheria/artiodactyla/bovioidea/boselaphini.html *http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl Prehistoric bovids Pleistocene even-toed ungulates Fossil taxa described in 1878 Prehistoric even-toed ungulate genera {{paleo-eventoedungulate-stub