Tragoportax

Tragoportax is an extinct genus of bovid ungulate. It lived from the upper Miocene to the earliest Pliocene, and its fossils have been found in southeastern Europe, parts of Africa, and the Indian Subcontinent. Tragoportax was formerly considered a close relative of the extant nilgai, though more recent studies suggest that it, and several other Miocene "boselaphins", formed a tribe of their own. The number of Tragoportax species has varied over the years, and some have been reassigned to the related genus Miotragocerus. The first Tragoportax specimens were discovered in Greece, and were originally assigned to Capra. Subsequently, they were reassigned to Tragocerus. This genus name was preoccupied by a beetle, and thus Tragoportax is the correct name.

Tragoportax

Ghedoghedo · 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
BoselaphiniPBDB
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 4.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.9 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Miocene — about 45 of 50 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 50 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 50 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–9.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.8–9.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.4–9.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.1–8.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.8–8.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.4–8.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.1–7.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.4–7.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.1–6.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.8–6.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.4–6.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.1–5.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.8–5.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.4–5.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.1–4.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.8–4.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.1–3.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.8–3.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.9 Mya3.6 Mya12.1 Mya2.1 Mya

50 occurrences of Tragoportax on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

50 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

22 formations

Nawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°EPikermi — 38.04°N, 23.72°EPikermi — 38.00°N, 23.95°EMytilinii — 37.74°N, 26.89°EMytilinii — 37.75°N, 26.89°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EDytiko — 40.88°N, 22.55°ENagri — 32.77°N, 72.50°EDhok Pathan — 33.63°N, 72.52°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EVenta del Moro-Villatoya — 39.48°N, 1.35°WKizilirmak — 39.37°N, 33.73°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EPiram Conglomerate — 21.62°N, 72.38°EVarswater — 32.97°S, 18.15°ETriglia — 40.03°N, 23.47°ELefkon — 41.17°N, 23.50°ETuglu — 40.61°N, 33.63°EVathylakkos — 40.78°N, 22.66°ENikiti — 40.23°N, 23.70°ELithostratigraphic Unit B — 39.42°N, 22.65°EIncesu — 39.44°N, 36.49°EBeyağaç — 37.27°N, 28.97°E

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The named rock units Tragoportax has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tragoportax and its relatives

Miocene

Where Tragoportax and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

605 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Tragoportax, 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

31 references

Each of the 50 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. 19 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 content1

Picture of Tragoportax

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

No 3D scan of Tragoportax was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itBoselaphini through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Pilgrim 1937