Bubalus murrensis

Bubalus murrensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Artiodactyla
Family:Bovidae
Subfamily:Bovinae
Genus:Bubalus
Species: †B. murrensis
Binomial name
Bubalus murrensis
Berckhemer 1927

Bubalus murrensis, the European water buffalo, is an extinct Bovine that lived in Europe during the Pleistocene. Its closest living relatives are the Wild Asian water buffalo (Bubalus arnee), the Tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis), the Lowland anoa (Bubalus depressicornis), the Mountain anoa (Bubalus quarlesi) and the domestic Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis).[1]

Description

The morphology of Bubalus murrensis is very similar to other Bubalus species like the Wild Asian water buffalo (Bubalus arnee). Only the skull differs from other Bovines, especially the triangular horns. A skull found in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany) had a width of 107 cm.[2]

Distribution and habitat

The European water buffalo occurred in river valleys along the Rhine, Elbe and Murr in Germany and the Netherlands. It lived in muddy and swampy terrain.[3][4] Bubalus murrensis could not tolerate long-lasting episodes of frost and was therefore absent in Central Europe during the Glacial Periods. During the Interglacial Periods like the Eemian it occurred together with other species of the Interglacial faunal assemblage, including the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon namadicus), Merck's rhinoceros (Stephanorinus kirchbergensis), fallow deer (Dama dama), aurochs (Bos primigenius) and the European hippopotamus (Hippopotamus antiquus).[5][6][7]

References

  1. ↑ H. Dieter Schreiber (2004): Finds of Bubalis murrensis (Bovinae, Mammalia) from the Upper Rhine valley: a focus on the complex sedimentological conditions of a Quaternary fluviatile system, 18th International Senckenberg Conference, Weimar
  2. ↑ Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz/Landessammlung für Naturkunde Rheinland-Pfalz (2009): Jahresbericht des Museums und der Landessammlung 2008. Wissenschaftliche Sammlungen.. Mitteilungen der Rheinischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft 30: 52-54. Mainz. (german)
  3. ↑ Wighart von Koenigswald: Exoten in der Großtierfauna des letzten Interglazials von Mitteleuropa. Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart 41, 1991, S. 70–84
  4. ↑ Van Dam, I. (1997). "De eerste vondst van de Europese waterbuffel, Bubalus murrensis (Berckhemer, 1927) in Nederland". Cranium. 14: 49–54.
  5. ↑ Pushkina, Diana (2007). "The Pleistocene easternmost distribution in Eurasia of the species associated with the Eemian Palaeoloxodon antiquus assemblage" (PDF). Mammal Review. 37: 224–245. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2907.2007.00109.x.
  6. ↑ Kolfschoten, Th. van (May 2000). "The Eemian mammal fauna of central Europe" (PDF). Netherlands Journal of Geosciences. 79 (2/3): 269–281.
  7. ↑ Baumgart, B. (1997). "Vor- und nacheiszeitliche Großtiere in Mitteleuropa und ihre Einpassung in das Ökosystem - Stand der Projektentwicklung zum Großtierschutzgebiet Teltow-Fläming". Brandenburgische Umweltberichte: 118–129.


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