Late Quaternary Extinction of Ungulates in Sub-Saharan Africa
نویسندگان
چکیده
Comparative osteomorphology and sta ti st ical analysis cf postcranial limb bone measurements cf modern African wildebeest (Collnochaetes), eland (Taura/ragus) and African buffala (Sy" cer"s) have heen applied to reassess the systematic affiliations between these bovids and related extinct Pleistocene forms. The fossil sam pies come from the sites of Elandsfontein (Cape Province) .nd Flarisb.d (Orange Free State) in South Afrie • . On the basis of differenees in skull morphology and s ize of the appendicular skeleton between fossil and modern blaek wildebeest (ConlJochaeus gnou). the subspecies name anliquus, pro posed earlier to designate the Pleistoeene form, ean be retained. The same taxonomie level is accepted for the large Pleistocene e1and, whieh could be named Taurolragus oryx antiquus. The long horned or giant buffa1o, Pelorovis antiquus, can be inc1uded in the polymorpho us Syncerus caffer stock and could therefore be called Syncerus caffer antiquus. The ecology of Pleistocene and modern Connochaetes, Taurolragus and Syncerus is discussed. A relationship between herbivore body size and c1imate, as Bergmann's Rule predicts, could not be demonstrated. This study furthennore questions the significance of body size and horn co re morphology for Pleistocene ungulate taxonomy and suggests that the number of known (late) Quatemary species extinctions in sub-Saharan Africa may be overrated. Phyletic change is considered an alternative possibility and agonistic behaviour invoked as one of the mechanisms to explain the evolutionary shift from the Pleistocene populations of Connochaetes, Taurotragus and Syncerus to modern black wildebeest, eland and African buffalo in sub-Saharan Africa.
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