Giraffomorpha

{{Short description|Clade of superfamilies of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Early Miocene|Holocene}}

| image = Ampelomeryx ginsburgi MHNT.PAL.2006.0.36 - Reconstitution 3D grandeur nature.jpg

| image_caption = Reconstruction of Ampelomeryx ginsburgi

| image2 = Giraffe in the wild of Lake Mburo National Park.jpg

| image2_caption = Giraffe (Giraffa sp.)

| taxon = Giraffomorpha

| authority = Sánchez, Cantalapiedra, Ríos, Quiralte & Morales, 2015

|subdivision_ranks = Superfamilies

|subdivision =

• Giraffoidea
• {{extinct}}Palaeomerycoidea

}}

Giraffomorpha is a clade of pecoran ruminants containing the superfamilies Palaeomerycoidea (Palaeomerycidae) and Giraffoidea (Giraffidae, Prolibytheriidae and Climacoceratidae), of which the giraffe and okapi of the Giraffidae are the only extant members of the once-diverse clade as a result of a decline in diversity after the Miocene as a result of declines in temperatures. The clade is defined by the presence of ossicones, suggesting that the feature was developed as a result of basal, related evolutions between the two superfamilies rather than as an instance of parallel evolution. Giraffomorpha is also characterized by a lack of articular fossettes (hollows) in metatarsal bones III-IV.{{cite journal|last1=Sánchez|first1=Israel M.|last2=Cantalapiedra|first2=Juan L.|last3=Ríos|first3=María|last4=Quiralte|first4=Victoria|year=2015|title=Systematics and Evolution of the Miocene Three-Horned Palaeomerycid Ruminants (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla)|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=10|issue=12|pages=e0143034 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0143034|pmid=26630174 |pmc=4668073 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal|last1=Xafis|first1=Alexandros|last2=Mayda|first2=Serdar|last3=Alçiçek|first3=Mehmet Cihat|last4=Kaya|first4=Tanju|last5=Halaçlar|first5=Kazım|last6=Grímsson|first6=Friðgeir|last7=Nagel|first7=Doris|year=2020|title=Large giraffids (Mammalia, Ruminantia) from the new late Miocene fossiliferous locality of Kemiklitepe-E (Western Anatolia, Turkey)|journal=Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironment|volume=101|issue=3|pages=853–867 |doi=10.1007/s12549-020-00433-4|pmid=34721707 |pmc=8550776}}{{cite journal|last1=Mennecart|first1=Bastien|last2=Dziomber|first2=Laura|last3=Aiglstorfer|first3=Manuela|last4=Bibi|first4=Faysal|last5=DeMiguel|first5=Daniel|last6=Fujita|first6=Masaki|last7=Kubo|first7=Mugino O.|last8=Laurens|first8=Flavie|last9=Meng|first9=Jin|last10=Métais|first10=Grégoire|last11=Müller|first11=Bert|last12=Rios|first12=Maria|last13=Rössner|first13=Gertrud E.|last14=Sánchez|first14=Israel M.|last15=Schulz|first15=Georg|last16=Wang|first16=Shiqi|last17=Costeur|first17=Loïc|year=2022|title=Ruminant inner ear shape records 35 million years of neutral evolution|journal=Nature Communications|volume=13|number=7222|doi=10.1038/s41467-022-34656-0|doi-access=free|hdl=10362/151348|hdl-access=free}}

The position of the giraffomorphs Propalaeoryx of the Miocene of Africa and the insular Sardomeryx of the Miocene of Sardinia are not completely resolved but are recently suggested to be within the Palaeomerycoidea without being situated within the Palaeomerycidae family itself.{{cite journal|last1=Mennecart|first1=Bastien|last2=Zoboli|first2=Daniel|last3=Costeur|first3=Loïc|last4=Pillola|first4=Gian Luigi|year=2018|title=On the systematic position of the oldest insular ruminant Sardomeryx oschiriensis (Mammalia, Ruminantia) and the early evolution of the Giraffomorpha|journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology|volume=17|issue=8|pages=691–704|doi=10.1080/14772019.2018.1472145}}{{cite journal|last1=Sánchez|first1=Israel M.|last2=Morales|first2=Jorge|last3=Cantalapiedra|first3=Juan L.|last4=Quiralte|first4=Victoria|last5=Pickford|first5=Martin|year=2019|title=Propalaeoryx Stromer 1926 (Ruminantia, Pecora, Giraffomorpha) revisited: systematics and phylogeny of an African palaeomerycoid|journal=Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia|volume=19|pages=123–131|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331072533}}