Honanotherium

Honanotherium
Temporal range: Late Miocene
skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Artiodactyla
Family:Giraffidae
Genus:†Honanotherium
Bohlin, 1927
Species
  • H. schlosseri Bohlin, 1927
  • H. bernori Solounias & Danowitz, 2016[1]

Honanotherium is a genus of extinct giraffid from the late Miocene of Henan Province, China, and East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran.[2][1] It was closely related to Bohlinia and was once thought to be ancestral to the modern giraffe (genus Giraffa). The living animal would have resembled a modern giraffe, but, somewhat shorter, and with more massive ossicones.

The first part of the generic name, honano refers to the Henan (Chinese: 河南; pinyin: Húnán) province of China, where the first specimens were recovered. the second part, therium, comes from the Greek, θηρίον which means "beast."

Paleobiology

reconstruction

Like the modern-day giraffe, Honanotherium may have grazed on low-lying trees in the savannah environment, although its shorter neck shows that it probably fed on different plants than the extant giraffe.

References

  1. 1 2 Nikos Solounias and Melinda Danowitz (2016). "The Giraffidae of Maragheh and the identification of a new species of Honanotherium". Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. in press. doi:10.1007/s12549-016-0230-7.
  2. ↑ Bohlin, B. 1927. Die Familie Giraffidae. Pal. Sinica, Ser. C, IV, Fasc. 1, various pages.
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