Euceratherium

Shrubox
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene 1.1–0.013 Ma
Mounted skeleton (with missing ribs)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Placentalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Caprinae
Tribe: Ovibovini
Genus: †Euceratherium
Furlong & Sinclair, 1904
Type species
†Euceratherium collinum
Other species
  • †Euceratherium bizzelli
    Stovall, 1937[1]
Synonyms
  • Aftonius calvini Hay, 1913
  • Preptoceras sinclairi Furlong, 1905

Euceratherium, also called the shrubox, is an extinct genus of ovibovine caprine known from the Pleistocene of North America and China. Two species have been proposed: the type species Euceratherium collinum named in 1904, and a second species Euceratherium bizzelli, named in 1937. Some researchers have expressed that the differences between these species may actually be individual variation, or variation within a single species.[2]

Taxonomy

Life restoration from 1913 by Robert Bruce Horsfall (top) and modern restoration (bottom) of E. collinum

Euceratherium collinum was formally described in 1904.[3] The species is considered to be closely related to the living muskox, as well as extinct genera like Bootherium.[4]

Distribution

The earliest fossils of the genus are known from the Early Pleistocene of China, from which it then migrated into North America.[4] Late Pleistocene shrubox remains are known from fossil finds spanning from what is now Northern California to Guatemala. Alongside the fellow extinct ovibovine Speleotherium, it is one of the southernmost known caprines in North America.[5]

Description

Euceratherium has been estimated to weight approximately 450 kilograms (990 lb).[6]

Ecology

Based on preserved dung pellets, it has been established that Euceratherium was a browser with a diet of trees and shrubs.[7] They seem to have preferred hilly landscapes.

References

  1. ^ Stovall, J. Willis (1937). "Euceratherium bizzelli, a new ungulate from Oklahoma". Journal of Paleontology. 11 (5): 450–455. ISSN 0022-3360.
  2. ^ Simpson, George Gaylord (1963). "A New Record of Euceratherium or Preptoceras (Extinct Bovidae) in New Mexico". Journal of Mammalogy. 44 (4): 583. doi:10.2307/1377152.
  3. ^ Furlong, E. L. & Sinclair, W. J. (1904). Preliminary description of Euceratherium collinum. University of California Publications, American Archaeology and Ethnology, 2:18.
  4. ^ a b Bai, Weipeng; Dong, Wei; Zhang, Limin (July 15, 2024). "The first confirmation of North American extinct shrub-ox (Euceratherium, Artiodactyla, Mammalia) in the Early Pleistocene of northern China". Quaternary Science Reviews. 336 108777. Bibcode:2024QSRv..33608777B. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108777.
  5. ^ White, Richard S.; Mead, Jim I.; Morgan, Gary S. (2025). "Logan's austral scrubox, a new ovibovine (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Bovidae) from Muskox Cave, Eddy County, New Mexico". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Bulletin 101: 473–494.
  6. ^ Smith, Felisa A.; Elliott Smith, Rosemary E.; Lyons, S. Kathleen; Payne, Jonathan L. (2018-04-20). "Body size downgrading of mammals over the late Quaternary". Science. 360 (6386): 310–313. Bibcode:2018Sci...360..310S. doi:10.1126/science.aao5987. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 29674591.
  7. ^ Kropf, M.; Mead, J. I.; Anderson, R. S. (January 2007). "Dung, diet, and the paleoenvironment of the extinct shrub-ox (Euceratherium collinum) on the Colorado Plateau, USA". Quaternary Research. 67 (1). Elsevier: 143–151. Bibcode:2007QuRes..67..143K. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2006.10.002. Accessed 2008-08-19.

Further reading

  • P. S. Martin: Quaternary Extinctions. The University of Arizona Press, 1984 ISBN 0-8165-1100-4
  • Grundzüge der Faunen- und Verbreitungsgeschichte der Säugetiere, E. Thenius, 2.Auflage, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, 1980 ISBN 3-437-30312-0


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