ALCELAPHINI de Rochebrune, 1883

Herries, AIR, Menter, CG & Adams, JW, 2015, First description of in situ primate and faunal remains from the Plio-Pleistocene Drimolen Makondo palaeocave infill, Gauteng, South Africa, Palaeontologia Electronica (Basel, Switzerland) 28 (6), pp. 1-21 : 15

Tribe ALCELAPHINI de Rochebrune, 1883 Alcelaphini gen. et sp. indet.

Referred material. DNM 444-1, maxillary enamel fragment; DNM 444-2, two articulating maxillary enamel fragments.

Description. DNM 444-1 and 444-2 are partial maxillary ectoloph enamel fragments. Unfortunately, the degree of preservation does not allow their side or position within the toothrow to be established. The overall size of the ectoloph fragments is consistent with a large Class III bovid ( Brain, 1974), morphology of the ectoloph (style and rib) and hypsodonty is consistent with a large alcelaphin.

Discussion. Even as fragmentary remains, these ectoloph portions and the large size of the teeth would exclude all but either an extremely large Connochaetes or (most likely) Megalotragus ; however, we defer generic classification. Specimens attributable to both alcelaphin genera have been previously described from the Drimolen Main Quarry ( Keyser et al., 2000). We also note that the remains of a larger, skeletally immature Class III bovid (DNM 276–310, 316–431) were recovered during excavation and may represent parts of fragmentary partial skeleton of a single individual.