Oioceros is an extinct genus of spiral-horned antelope from the late Miocene. Its fossils have been found in Greece,
Oioceros somewhat resembled a gazelle.
Description
In 1997, an almost complete skull of
O. rothii proved that it was similar to
Samotragus praecursor, with a short face, compared to its relatively long
braincase, and isolated horn cores.
However, unlike
S. praecursor,
O. rothii had a jaw of primarily
premolar teeth, which were longer than the molars found in the latter.
Pilgrim and Hopwood described the genus as being "small size with long slender muzzle; face bent down on basicranial axis either slightly or to a moderate extent; orbits with expanded orbital roof; horn-cores twisted counter-clockwise in a fairly close spiral of one or two revolutions, widely separate, tilted backward or fairly upright, divergent, with a cross-section almost circular or elliptical, keeled either anteriorly or posteriorly or both; dentition moderately hypsodont, premolar series rather long and slender, molars broad with ribs of medium strength" (Pilgrim and Hopwood, 1928, p. 24). The horn cores of
Oioceros have a torsion.
Species
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Oioceros rothii was first named by Wagner in 1857.
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Oioceros atropatenes was first named by Rodler & Weithofer in 1890.
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Oioceros jiulongkouensis was first named by G. Chen and W. Wu in 1976.
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Oioceros noverca was first named by Pilgrim in 1934.
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Oioceros robustus was first named by Chen and Wu in 1976.
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Oioceros stenocephalus was first named by Chen and Wu in 1976.
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Oioceros wegneri was first named by Andree in 1926. It possibly represents an entirely different genus of sheep.
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Oioceros tanyceras was first named by Gentry in 1970 from the Miocene site of Fort Ternan, Kenya.
[Gentry, A. W. "The Bovidae (Mammalia) of the Fort Ternan fossil fauna." Fossil vertebrates of Africa 2 (1970): 243-323.] It has alternatively been placed in the genus Hypsodontinae.[Lars Werdelin, William Joseph Sanders, 2010, Cenozoic Mammals of Africa, p.747, University of California Press]
Further reading
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Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids by Jordi Agusti and Mauricio Anton. Published 2002, Columbia University Press.
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Classification of Mammals by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell. Published 1997, Columbia University Press.
External links
