Megalotragus priscus

Megalotragus is an extinct genus of very large African alcelaphines that lived from the Pliocene to early Holocene. Its skull resembled that of modern hartebeests, but it differed in having a larger body size and wildebeest-like proportions. Megalotragus includes some of the largest bovid species in the subfamily Alcelaphinae, reaching a shoulder height of 1.4 m (4.6 ft). The genus consists of three species of which Megalotragus priscus survived until the early Holocene 7.500 C14yBP.

Megalotragus priscus

the paleobear · CC BY 2.0 · 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
Sits inside
MegalotragusPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Bovidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Bovidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At most 2.6 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 2.58 Mya and 0 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Pliocene — about 0 of 6 occurrencesPleistocene — about 6 of 6 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 6 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.5–2.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.2–2.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.1–2.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.0–1.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.8–1.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.4–1.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.3–1.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.1–1.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.0–924 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences924 ka–821 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences821 ka–719 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences719 ka–616 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences616 ka–513 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences513 ka–411 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences411 ka–308 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences308 ka–205 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences205 ka–103 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences103 ka–0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.08 Mya0 Mya

6 occurrences of Megalotragus priscus 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

6 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

1 formation

Rietputs — 28.53°S, 24.47°E

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The named rock units Megalotragus priscus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Megalotragus priscus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Megalotragus priscus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

94 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Megalotragus priscus, 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

6 references

Each of the 6 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. 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 content1

Picture of Megalotragus priscus

Credit
the paleobear
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Megalotragus priscus was found in Sketchfab.

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 itMegalotragus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Broom 1909)