Antidorcas australis
Temporal range: Pleistocene - Holocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Antilopinae
Tribe: Antilopini
Genus: Antidorcas
Species:
†A. australis
Binomial name
†Antidorcas australis
(Hendey, 1968)[1]

Antidorcas australis, also known as the southern springbok, is an extinct species of antelope from the Pleistocene and Holocene of South Africa. It is a close relative of the living springbok.

Taxonomy

First recovered from Mid Pleistocene deposits at Swartklip along the southern coast of South Africa, the southern springbok was originally described as (and is sometimes still considered[1]) a subspecies of the modern springbok (as Antidorcas marsupialis australis).[2]

It was subsequently elevated to species level, as its presence at Swartkrans suggested a wide temporal and geographic distribution worthy of a valid species, and its taxonomic validity was further strengthened when remains were found together with Antidorcas recki, the presumed ancestor of modern springbok, in Early-Mid Pleistocene deposits.[3]

The genus Antidorcas evolved from an ancestral Gazella species more than 3 million years ago in East Africa and gave rise to A. australis, Antidorcas bondi, and A. recki. The southern springbok, along with A. bondi, became extinct perhaps as recently as 7,000 years ago;[4] at a minimum, fossils have been documented in the very latest Pleistocene deposits at Nelson Bay Cave (13,430 to 14,140 BP).[5]

Paleoecology

The southern springbok was associated with open-habitat species such as equids and alcelaphine antelopes. Like extant springbok, the southern springbok was probably a mixed feeder, capable of browsing dicots when grasses became unpalatable or scarce.[5]

See also

Megalotragus, another extinct African antelope from the Pleistocene-Holocene border.

References

  1. ^ a b "Antidorcas australis". Fossilworks.
  2. ^ Hendey, Q.B.; Hendey, H. (1968). "New Quaternary fossil sites near Swartklip, Cape Province". Annals of the South African Museum. Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. 52: 43–73.
  3. ^ Hendey, Q.B. (1974). "THE LATE CENOZOIC CARNIVORA OF THE SOUTHWESTERN CAPE PROVINCE SOUTH AFRICA". Annals of the South African Museum. Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. 63: 1–369.
  4. ^ Cain, J.W.; Krausman, P.; Germaine, H. (December 2004). "Antidorcas marsupialis". American Society of Mammalogists.
  5. ^ a b Klein, Richard G. (June 1977). "The Mammalian Fauna from the Middle and Later Stone Age (Later Pleistocene) Levels of Border Cave, Natal Province, South Africa". The South African Archaeological Bulletin. 32 (125): 14–37. doi:10.2307/3887843.
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