Syncerus

Syncerus is a genus of African bovid that contains the living Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer), including the distinct African forest buffalo.

Syncerus

Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 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
Also called
African buffaloPBDB
Sits inside
BubalinaPBDB
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 least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 111 occurrencesPliocene — about 9 of 111 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 76 of 111 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 26 of 111 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.3–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.9–2.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.7–2.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 35 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

111 occurrences of Syncerus 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

111 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

15 formations

Shungura — 5.09°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.01°N, 36.01°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°EOlduvai — 2.97°S, 35.32°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.42°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.45°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°ENachukui — 4.21°N, 35.78°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°EMbuga Clays — 3.88°S, 33.70°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°E2 — 11.06°N, 42.28°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°ERietputs — 28.53°S, 24.47°ELusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°E

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The named rock units Syncerus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 60 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Syncerus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Syncerus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

612 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 109 sites for Syncerus, 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

75 references

Each of the 111 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. 63 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 Syncerus

Credit
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
zmmu
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
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 itBubalina through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hodgson 1847