Tragoportax is an extinct genus of bovid ungulate. It lived during the upper Miocene, and its fossils have been found in Europe, Asia and Africa.[4] Tragoportax is sometimes considered to have been a close relative of the extant nilgai, though it may have formed its own subfamily, along with Miotragocerus.[3]
| Tragoportax Temporal range: Miocene
~ | |
|---|---|
| |
| Horns of Tragoportax amalthea | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Bovinae |
| Tribe: | Boselaphini |
| Genus: | †Tragoportax Pilgrim, 1937 |
| Type species | |
| Tragoportax salmontanus[1] Pilgrim, 1937
| |
| Species | |
| |
| Synonyms | |
Description edit
Species within the genus Tragoportax were sexually dimorphic, and were variable in size, although most were about the size of a red deer.[3]
Skull edit
The skull of Tragoportax had a short snout and elongated rear. The horns were large and curved backwards, and in some species (notably T. amalthea and T. perses) were twisted. The horns of females and young were smaller and thinner than those of adult males; in both sexes, the horns had a well-marked posterolateral keel and flat sides. The cross-section of the horns was usually triangular or subtriangular. Compared to those of the related Miotragocerus, the horns were less laterally compressed.[3]
Classification edit
The first fossils of Tragoportax were described in 1854 by Roth and Wagner under the name Capra amalthea, and a few years later Gaudry (1861) thought it appropriate to reclassify these fossils into a genus of their own (Tragocerus). The name Tragocerus, however, was preoccupied by a longhorn beetle,[5] and it was therefore necessary to rename the animal. In 1937, Guy Ellcock Pilgrim coined the generic name Tragoportax.[1]
Species edit
Several species are known from the genus Tragoportax: the type species is T. salmontanus, described by Guy Ellcock Pilgrim in 1937 on the basis of fossils found on the Siwaliks in Pakistan;[1] other well-known species are T. amalthea, well known thanks to several fossils found in the Greek deposit of Pikermi, and T. rugosifrons, widespread (Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, Pakistan, Iran). Other lesser-known species are T. maius (a possible synonym of T. eldaricus)[3] 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.[6] In 2023, a new species, Tragoportax perses, was described.[7]
Phylogeny edit
The classification of Tragoportax and its kin remains a matter of debate. It has commonly been assigned to the tribe Boselaphini, alongside the modern nilgai.[3] Bibi et al. (2009) suggested that modern boselaphines and their Miocene relatives should be separated, with Tragoportax being reassigned to the tribe Tragoportacini,[8] which also includes Miotragocerus.[8][9]
Paleobiology edit
The long legs of Tragoportax indicate that this animal was cursorial, moving quickly across open, forested plains, and was probably also a good jumper. A 2004 study indicates that Tragoportax was strongly sexually dimorphic, based on the shape and size of the horns.[3]
References edit
- ^ a b c Pilgrim G. 1937. - Siwalik antelopes and oxen in the American Museum of Natural History. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 72: 729-874.
- ^ Gaudry A. 1861. - Résultats des fouilles exécutées en Grèce under the auspices of the Académie. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris 52: 297-300.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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.
- ^ Solounias N. 1981. - The Turolian fauna from the Island of Samos, Greece with special emphasis on the Hyaenids and the Bovids. Contribution to Vertebrate Evolution 6: 1-232.
- ^ Mindat.org: Tragocerus. mindat.org. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
- ^ D. S. Kostopoulos. 2016. Artiodactyla - Palaeontology of the upper Miocene vertebrate localities of Nikiti (Chalkidiki Peninsula, Macedonia, Greece). Geobios 49:119-234 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]
- ^ Orak, Zahra; Kostopoulos, Dimitri S.; Ataabadi, Majid M. (May 22, 2023). "Late Miocene large-sized Bovidae (Mammalia) from Dimeh, SW Iran: contribution to depositional diachrony and palaeobiogeography". Geobios.
- ^ a b Bibi, Faysal, Bukhsianidze, Maia, Gentry, Alan W., Geraads, Denis, Kostopoulos, Dimitris S., and Vrba, Elisabeth S., 2009. The Fossil Record and Evolution of Bovidae: State of the Field. Palaeontologia Electronica Vol. 12, Issue 3; 10A: 11p; http://palaeo-electronica.org/2009_3/169/index.html
- ^ Qin-Qin Shi & Zhao-Qun Zhang (2023) New material of Miotragocerus (Bovidae, Artiodactyla) from northern China and its systematic implications, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 21:1, doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2194891