Prolibytherium

Prolibytherium
Temporal range: Burdigalian, 16.9–15.97 Ma
↓
Prolibytherium magnieri restoration, with female (left) and male (right)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Artiodactyla
Family:†Climacoceratidae
Genus:†Prolibytherium
Arambourg, 1961
Type species
†Prolibytherium magnieri
Species
  • †P. fusus
  • †P. magnieri

Prolibytherium ("Before Libya's Beast") is an extinct climacoceratid artiodactyl ungulate native to Early Miocene North Africa and Pakistan, from around 16.9 to 15.97 million years ago.[1]

The 1.80 metres (5 ft 11 in) long creature would have superficially resembled an okapi or a deer. Unlike these, however, Prolibytherium displayed dramatic sexual dimorphism, in that the male had a set of large, leaf-shaped ossicones with a width of 35 centimetres (14 in), while the female had a set of slender, horn-like ossicones.[2]

The taxonomic status of Prolibytherium remains in flux. At one time, it was described as a relative of Sivatherium (as a precursor to "Libytherium maurusium" (S. maurusium)). Later, it would be regarded as a palaeomerycid, or either as a climacoceratid, or as a basal member of Giraffoidea. With the discovery and study of a female skull in 2010, Prolibytherium is tentatively regarded as a climacoceratid.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Prolibytherium". Fossilworks. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  2. 1 2 Sánchez, Israel M.; Quiralte, Victoria; Morales, Jorge; Azanza, Beatriz; Pickford, Martin (2010). "Sexual dimorphism of the frontal appendages of the early Miocene African pecoran Prolibytherium Arambourg, 1961 (Mammalia, Ruminantia)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (4): 1306–1310. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.483555. JSTOR 40864406.


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