Oioceros rothii ( Wagner, 1857 )

Kostopoulos, Dimitris S., 2014, Taxonomic re-assessment and phylogenetic relationships of Miocene homonymously spiral-horned antelopes, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 59 (1), pp. 9-29 : 18-19

Oioceros rothii ( Wagner, 1857)

Holotype: Frontlet, BSPM AS II 601 ( Wagner 1857: pl. 8: 20).

Type locality: Pikermi, Greece.

Type horizon: Middle Turolian ( MN 12), Late Miocene.

Diagnosis (modified from Roussiakis 2003).—Medium size; horncores homonymously torsioned (1 coil), lyrate in anterior view, and moderately compressed throughout their length ( Fig. 1 ); anterior keel blunt; posterolateral keel strong and running along most of the horncore; interfrontal and fronto−parietal sutures open and complex in outline; interfrontal suture only slightly elevated between the horncore bases; ethmoidal fissure present; occipital and roof of the braincase forming an obtuse angle in lateral view; basioccipital relatively long, slightly wider posteriorly than anteriorly, and bearing a weak medial groove anteriorly.

Remarks.—Until recently, only the horncores and dentition of O. rothii were known, but Roussiakis (2003) described an almost complete skull together with other dental and cranial material from the type locality of Pikermi, and provided an emended diagnosis. More recently, Kostopoulos and Bernor (2011) reviewed occurrences from a range of other localities (see below).

Geographic and stratigraphic range.—Apart from the type locality, this species has also been recorded from the early– middle Turolian ( MN 11, MN12) localities of the Axios Valley ( Arambourg and Piveteau 1929), the early Turolian ( MN 11) locality of Çorak Yerler, Turkey ( Köhler 1987), the Lower, Middle, and Upper Maragheh, Iran ( Mecquenem 1925; Kostopoulos and Bernor 2011), the middle Turolian locality of Bazaleti, Georgia ( Meladze 1967) and the localities of Khirgis−Nur III (Turolian) and Dzagso−Khairkhar−4 (Early Pliocene) of Mongolia ( Dmitrieva 2007: pl. 12: 1, 2, misintentified as O. atropatenes ). Other reports of O. rothii have not been adequately documented.

Figures

Fig. 1. Box−plots of the horncore basal compression index (i.e., TD*100/ ADP) for several species and genera of Oiocerina, showing the medial (horizontal line inside the boxes), the 25–75% quartiles (gray boxes) and the minimum and maximum range of values (short horizontal lines). NKT−1, Nikiti−1; RZ1, Ravin des Zouaves 1.