Neotragus

Neotragus is a genus of dwarf antelope, native to Africa. The genus includes only a single species without any dispute, namely Neotragus pygmaeus. This species, the royal antelope, is the smallest antelope in the world, usually weighing around 5 to 7 pounds. They live in conditions that are warm and moist and are found in the tropical forests of Western Africa. The royal antelope's diet consists of high-nutrient food sources, such as leaves, flowers, plants, fruits, and the growing tips of shoots. Recent nucleic acid studies now suggest that the other two species formerly included in the genus are not closely related, and should be assigned to the genus Nesotragus. Members of the Nesotragus genus are the only surviving members of the subfamily Nesotraginae or tribe Nesotragini and are more closely related to the impala, while the royal antelope is still considered a member of the subfamily Antilopinae or tribe Antilopini.

Neotragus

Mirko Raner · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
NeotraginiPBDB
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 2 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 2 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 2 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.5–2.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.2–2.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.1–2.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.0–1.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.8–1.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.4–1.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.3–1.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.1–1.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.0–924 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences924 ka–821 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences821 ka–719 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences719 ka–616 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences616 ka–513 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences513 ka–411 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences411 ka–308 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences308 ka–205 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences205 ka–103 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences103 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.08 Mya0 Mya

2 occurrences of Neotragus 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

2 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.

Neotragus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Neotragus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

96 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Neotragus, 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

2 references

Each of the 2 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Neotragus

Credit
Mirko Raner
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Neotragus batsei · ummz:mammals:39519

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itNeotragini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hamilton Smith 1827