Procavia antiqua

Procavia antiqua is an extinct species of hyrax that lived in South Africa during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene epochs, about 3.03 million–960,000 years ago. Its fossilized remains were first discovered in Taung, and have since been found in many more caves within the country. The species was named in 1934 by Robert Broom, who recognized that it belonged in the genus Procavia, of which the only species existing today is the rock hyrax. Fossils of P. antiqua are very similar to the bones of the rock hyrax, differing mainly in characteristics of the teeth. Because of this, it has been proposed that P. antiqua is an ancestor of the rock hyrax or even the same species as it. If the latter case is true, this would make P. antiqua a junior synonym of P. capensis, though there remains disagreement between researchers over whether this is the case.

Procavia antiqua

Robert Broom · Public Domain · 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
ProcaviaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Procaviidae
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Procaviidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 13 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 13 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 7 of 13 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 13 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.1–1.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.8–1.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.3–1.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.0–775 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences775 ka–516 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences516 ka–258 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences258 ka–0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.6 Mya – 2.58 Mya7.7 Mya0 Mya

13 occurrences of Procavia antiqua on record. 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

13 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

5 formations

Swartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Procavia antiqua has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

305 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Procavia antiqua, 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

12 references

Each of the 13 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 content2

Picture of Procavia antiqua

Credit
Robert Broom
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Procavia antiqua · dnmnh:sts:105

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 itProcavia through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Broom 1934