Paleontologists in Pakistan have unveiled a brand new genus and species of prehistoric giraffe relative from the Miocene epoch.
Life reconstruction of historical giraffids. Picture credit score: Apokryltaros / CC BY 3.0.
Bramiscus micros lived in what’s now northern Pakistan round 9 million years in the past (Miocene epoch).
The prehistoric species was an early member of Giraffidae, a big household of ruminant artiodactyl mammals that share a typical ancestor with deer and bovids and embody residing giraffes and okapi.
Bramiscus micros was a small-sized giraffid with probably two pairs of ossicones (horn-like protuberances) on its head.
“Bramiscus micros had probably two pairs of ossicones that differ from different Early and Center Miocene giraffids and giraffomorphs ossicones in dimension, orientation, and ornamentation,” Dr. María Ríos from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and her colleagues wrote of their paper.
The cranial, dental, and postcranial stays of Bramiscus micros got here from the fossil website of Dhok Bun Amir Khatoon (Chinji Formation) positioned within the Chakwal district, Punjab, Pakistan. Further stays had been recognized from the Hasvard Siwaliks Assortment.
“Early Miocene giraffids are much less numerous and considerable than through the later Miocene, with a lot of the proof coming from the Chinji Formation of Pakistan,” the paleontologists wrote.
“There are additionally giraffid fossils from Kalodirr, Loperot, and Moruorot Hill on the Lothidok Formation of West Turkana in Kenya, in addition to Rusinga Island within the Hiwegi Formation, Kenya, and from Gebel Zelten, Libya.”
“The one identified Early Miocene genera are Progiraffa and Canthumeryx,” they added.
“By the Center Miocene, there are a number of extra species (e.g., Giraffokeryx, Giraffa) and an adaptive radiation had occurred, with a number of extra giraffid species showing within the Chinji Formation in Pakistan, in Fort Ternan, Kenya, in addition to in Chios, Greece, and extra occurrences from Africa and Center East.”
Bramiscus micros coexisted on the identical time with different giraffids, comparable to Progiraffa exigua, Giraffokeryx punjabiensis, Giraffa priscilla, Giraffa punjabiensis, and different nonetheless unnamed species.
“Our materials represents the earliest document of giraffids with true ossicones within the Indian subcontinent,” the researchers concluded.
Their paper was revealed on-line within the journal Palaeontologia Electronica.
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María Ríos et al. 2024. A brand new giraffid Bramiscus micros nov. gen. nov. sp. (Ruminantia, Giraffidae) from the Miocene of northern Pakistan. Palaeontologia Electronica 27 (2): a29; doi: 10.26879/1243