Connochaetes

Wildebeest, also called gnu, are antelopes of the genus Connochaetes and native to Eastern and Southern Africa. They belong to the family Bovidae, which includes true antelopes, cattle, goats, sheep, and other even-toed horned ungulates. There are two species of wildebeest: the black wildebeest or white-tailed gnu, and the blue wildebeest or brindled gnu.

Connochaetes

Muhammad Mahdi Karim · GFDL 1.2 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
wildebeestPBDB
Sits inside
AlcelaphiniPBDB
Diet
grazerPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Bovidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 165 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 165 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 13 of 165 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 129 of 165 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 14 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 37 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 44 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 60 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

165 occurrences of Connochaetes on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

165 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

18 formations

Koobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.22°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 3.95°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 3.94°N, 36.25°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.31°EKoobi Fora — 4.06°N, 36.33°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 4.16°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.76°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 9.83°S, 34.83°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°EChiwondo — 10.05°S, 33.96°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°EMbuga Clays — 4.03°S, 33.78°EMbuga Clays — 3.87°S, 33.70°EMbuga Clays — 3.88°S, 33.97°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EChemoigut — 0.65°N, 36.20°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EVarswater — 33.67°S, 18.43°EWehaietu — 10.32°N, 40.55°EMbuga/Yellow Clays — 3.92°S, 33.87°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°E2 — 11.06°N, 42.28°EBouri — 10.00°N, 40.50°E

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The named rock units Connochaetes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 87 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Connochaetes and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Connochaetes and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

672 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 158 sites for Connochaetes, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

85 references

Each of the 165 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 73 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Connochaetes

Credit
Muhammad Mahdi Karim
Licence
GFDL 1.2
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAlcelaphini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Lichtenstein 1812)