Giraffa jumae

Giraffa jumae
Temporal range: 5.3–0.126 Ma Pliocene to Pleistocene[1]
Skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Giraffidae
Genus: Giraffa
Species:
†G. jumae
Binomial name
†Giraffa jumae
Leakey, 1967

Giraffa jumae is an extinct species of even-toed ungulate in the Giraffidae family. The species ranged from Malawi to Chad with a possible occurrence of the species or a closely related species found in Turkey. The type specimen was discovered during trenching excavations on the upper member of the Rawi Formation by Louis Leakey in the 1930s.[2] The specimen was found with Ceratotherium simum, Suidae such as Metridiochoerus andrewsi, a Hippopotamus gorgops, and a nearly complete pygmy hippopotamus mandible.[2]

Restoration of G. jumae (top left) and other ungulates from the Pliocene of eastern Africa, by Mauricio Antón

The species is considered a possible ancestor to the modern giraffes.[3]

References

  1. ^ Giraffa jumae, The Paleobiology Database
  2. ^ a b Frost, Stephen R.; Plummer, Thomas; Bishop, Laura C.; Ditchfield, Peter; Ferraro, Joseph; Hicks, Jason (2003), "Partial Cranium of Cercopithecoides kimeui Leakey, 1982 From Rawi Gully, Southwestern Kenya", American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 122 (3): 191–199, doi:10.1002/ajpa.10279, PMID 14533178
  3. ^ Simmons, R. E.; Scheepers, L. (1996), "Winning by a neck: sexual selection in the evolution of giraffe", The American Naturalist, 148 (5): 771–786, doi:10.1086/285955, S2CID 84406669


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