Damaliscus niro
{{Short description|Extinct species of antelope}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range =Pleistocene
| extinct = yes
| genus = Damaliscus
| species = niro
| synonyms = Hippotragus niro
}}
Damaliscus niro is an extinct species of antelope that lived in Africa throughout the Pleistocene, as recently as 63,000 years ago.{{cite journal |last1=Faith |first1=J. Tyler |title=Late Pleistocene and Holocene mammal extinctions on continental Africa |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |date=2014 |volume=128 |pages=105–121 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.10.009 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S001282521300175X}}
Taxonomy
Arthur Tindell Hopwood described Damaliscus niro as Hippotragus niro in 1936 from a horn core collected by L.S.B. Leakey from a site at the Olduvai Gorge. In 1965, Gentry transferred the species from Hippotragus to Damaliscus.{{cite journal |last1=Gentry |first1=A.W. |title=New evidence on the systematic position of Hippotragus niro Hopwood, 1936 (Mammalia) |journal=Journal of Natural History |series=Series 13 |date=1965 |volume=8 |issue=90 |pages=335–338 |doi=10.1080/00222936508651577 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222936508651577}}
Distribution and age
Damaliscus niro is mostly known from the Early to Middle Pleistocene of eastern and southern Africa.{{cite journal |last1=Cooke |first1=H.B. |title=The geology, archaeology and fossil mammals of the Cornelia Beds, Orange Free State |journal=Mem. Natl. Mus. Bloemfontein |date=1974 |volume=35 |pages=1–109}}{{cite journal |last1=Vrba |first1=E.S |title=New fossils of Alcelaphini and Caprinae (Bovidae, Mammalia) from Awash, Ethiopia, and phylogenetic analysis of Alcelaphini |journal=Paleontol. Afr. |date=1997 |volume=34 |pages=127–198 |s2cid=130738669 }} In 2008, some Late Pleistocene remains of D. niro were found near Plovers Lake in South Africa, dated to between 89,000 and 63,000 BP.{{cite journal |last1=de Ruiter |first1=D.J. |title=Faunal assemblage composition and paleoenvironment of Plovers Lake, a Middle Stone Age locality in Gauteng Province, South Africa |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |date=2008 |volume=55 |issue=6 |pages=1102–1117 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.07.011 |pmid=18954892 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248408001851}}
Description
Damaliscus niro has backwards curving horn cores with well-spaced, strong transverse ridges on their front surface.{{cite book |last1=Bubenik |first1=Anthony B. |title=Horns, Pronghorns, and Antlers: Evolution, Morphology, Physiology, and Social Significance |date=2012 |publisher=Springer New York |isbn=9781461389668 |page=215}} Isotopic evidence from Mid Pleistocene specimens suggest a diet dominated by C4 grasses.{{cite journal |last1=Codron |first1=D. |title=The evolution of ecological specialization in southern African ungulates: competition or physical environmental turnover |journal=Oikos |date=2008 |volume=117 |issue=3 |pages=334–353 |doi=10.1111/j.2007.0030-1299.16387.x}}