Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Cladus: Synapsida
Cladus: Eupelycosauria
Cladus: Sphenacodontia
Cladus: Sphenacodontoidea
Cladus: Therapsida
Cladus: Theriodontia
Subordo: Cynodontia
Infraordo: Eucynodontia
Cladus: Probainognathia
Cladus: Prozostrodontia
Cladus: Mammaliaformes
Classis: Mammalia
Subclassis: Trechnotheria
Infraclassis: Zatheria
Supercohors: Theria
Cohors: Eutheria
Infraclassis: Placentalia
Cladus: Boreoeutheria
Superordo: Laurasiatheria
Cladus: Euungulata
Ordo: Artiodactyla
Cladus: Artiofabula
Cladus: Cetruminantia
Subordo: Ruminantia
Familia: Bovidae
Subfamilia: Alcelaphinae
Genus: Beatragus
Species: †Beatragus antiquus
Subspecies: †B. a. remotus
Name
Beatragus antiquus Leakey, 1965: 61
Type locality: Olduvai Bed 1, Tanzania.
Type: BMNH M. 21445
References
Primary references
Leakey, L.S.B. 1965. Olduvai Gorge, 1951–1961. Volume I. A preliminary report on the geology and fauna. Cambridge University Press. Reference page.
Links
Beatragus antiquus – Taxon details on Fossilworks.
Beatragus antiquus, the ancient hirola, is an extinct species of alcelaphine antelope that lived in Africa during the Plio-Pleistocene.
Discovery
Beatragus antiquus was first described by Louis Leakey in 1965 from material discovered at the Olduvai Gorge (Beds I and II) in Tanzania.[1] Other remains dated slightly earlier have also been found in the Omo valley and possibly at Elandsfontein in South Africa.[2]
Description
The ancient hirola was larger than the modern day hirola, and the two together may represent a chronospecies.[2] Other differences with the hirola include horn cores diverging immediately from their bases, a lessening of distal divergence, more upright insertions in side view and wider and more convex frontals of the horn cores.[3]
Paleoecology
It lived in vast savannas alongside other alcelaphine antelopes, such as a small species of Damaliscus and Parmularius.[2] The ancient hirola probably declined as a result of diminished habitat preferences, and the modern species, with its smaller size and less energy demands, eventually evolved to cope with the new ecologically impoverished landscape.[4]
References
Leakey, L.S.B. (1965). Olduvai Gorge: Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052105527X.
Kingdon, Jonathan (1984). East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Volume 3, Part D: Bovids. University of Chicago Press. p. 477. ISBN 9780226437255.
Werdelin, Lars; Sanders, William Joseph (2010). Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press. p. 782. ISBN 9780520257214.
Kingdon, Jonathan (2014). Mammals of Africa: Volume VI Hippopotamuses, Pigs, Deer, Giraffe and Bovids. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 490. ISBN 9781408189955.
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