Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T15:43:04.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Taxonomic status and paleoecology of Rusingoryx atopocranion (Mammalia, Artiodactyla), an extinct Pleistocene bovid from Rusinga Island, Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J. Tyler Faith ,
Jonah N. Choiniere ,
Christian A. Tryon ,
Daniel J. Peppe  and
David L. Fox
J. Tyler Faith*
Affiliation:
Hominid Paleobiology Doctoral Program, CASHP, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 2110 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
Jonah N. Choiniere
Affiliation:
Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
Christian A. Tryon
Affiliation:
Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, 25 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10012, USA
Daniel J. Peppe
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Baylor University, One Bear Place #97354, Waco, TX 76798, USA
David L. Fox
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 210 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: + 1 202 994 6097.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Rusingoryx atopocranion is a poorly known extinct alcelaphine bovid, documented in Pleistocene deposits associated with Middle Stone Age artifacts on Rusinga Island, Kenya. Following its initial description, Rusingoryx was subsumed into Megalotragus, which includes the extinct giant wildebeests, on the basis of its cranial architecture. Renewed investigations of the Pleistocene deposits on Rusinga Island recovered a large sample of Rusingoryx specimens that provide new taxonomic and paleoecological insight. This study (1) reviews the morphological and phylogenetic evidence concerning the taxonomic status of Rusingoryx and (2) evaluates its paleoecology and dietary habits. The morphology and phylogenetic data indicate that Rusingoryx is distinct from Megalotragus; they likely shared a common ancestor in the late Pliocene. Ecomorphology and mesowear analysis point to a specialized grazing adaptation, and its association with arid-adapted ungulates suggests a preference for arid grasslands. The confirmation of Rusingoryx as a valid taxonomic entity, together with the presence of other extinct taxa (including Megalotragus) on Rusinga Island, suggests an increasingly complex pattern of ungulate biogeography and extinctions in the late Quaternary of East Africa. Rusingoryx appears to have been part of an arid-adapted faunal community that potentially persisted in East Africa until the onset of the Holocene.

Keywords

MegalotragusPhylogenetic systematicsEcomorphologyMesowearQuaternary extinctionsLake Victoria
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , May 2011 , pp. 697 - 707
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnosky, A.D., Koch, P.L., Feranec, R.S., Wing, S.L., and Shabel, A.B. Assessing the causes of late Pleistocene extinctions on the continents. Science 306, (2004). 70–75.Google ScholarPubMed
Bell, R.H.V. A grazing ecosystem in the Serengeti. Scientific American 225, (1971). 86–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonnefille, R., and Chalie, F. Pollen-inferred precipitation time-series from equatorial mountains, Africa, the last 40 kyr BP. Global and Planetary Change 26, (2000). 25–50.Google Scholar
Bonnefille, R., Roeland, J.C., and Guiot, J. Temperature and rainfall estimates for the past 40,000 years in equatorial Africa. Nature 346, (1990). 347–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brink, J.S. The archaeozoology of Florisbad, Orange Free State. Memoirs of the National Museum, Bloemfontein 24, (1987). 1–151.Google Scholar
Brink, J.S. An ass, Equus (Asinus) sp., from the late Quaternary mammalian assemblages of Florisbad and Vlakkraal, central southern Africa. South African Journal of Science 90, (1994). 497–500.Google Scholar
Brink, J.S. Preliminary report on a caprine from the Cape mountains, South Africa. Archaeozoologia 10, (1999). 11–26.Google Scholar
Brink, J.S., (2005). The evolution of the black wildebeest, Connochaetes gnou, and modern large mammal faunas in central South Africa. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.Google Scholar
Brink, J.S., De Bruiyn, H., Rademeyer, L.G., and van der Westhuizen, W.A. A new find of Megalotragus priscus (Alcelaphini, Bovidae) from the central Karoo, South Africa. Palaeontologia Africana 32, (1995). 17–22.Google Scholar
Brink, J.S., and Lee-Thorpe, J.A. The feeding niche of an extinct springbok, Antidorcas bondi (Antelopini, Bovidae), and its paleoenvironmental meaning. South African Journal of Science 88, (1992). 227–229.Google Scholar
Broom, R. On a large extinct species of Bubalis . Annals of the South African Museum 7, (1909). 279–280.Google Scholar
Cerling, T.E., Harris, J.M., and Passey, B.H. Diets of east African Bovidae based on stable isotope analysis. Journal of Mammalogy 84, (2003). 456–470.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawley, M.J. Herbivory: The Dynamics of Animal–Plant Interactions. (1983). Blackwell, London.Google Scholar
de Ruiter, D.J. Revised faunal lists for Members 1–3 of Swartkrans, South Africa. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 40, (2003). 29–41.Google Scholar
Demment, M.W., and Van Soest, P.J. A nutritional explanation for body-size patterns of ruminant and nonruminant herbivores. The American Naturalist 125, (1985). 641–672.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faith, J.T. Late Quaternary dietary shifts of the Cape grysbok (Raphicerus melanotis) in southern Africa. Quaternary Research 75, (2011). 159–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faith, J.T., and Surovell, T.A. Synchronous extinction of North America's Pleistocene mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106, (2009). 20641–20645.Google ScholarPubMed
Fortelius, M., and Solounias, N. Functional characterization of ungulate molars using the abrasion-attrition wear gradient: a new method for reconstructing paleodiets. American Museum Novitates 3301, (2000). 1–36.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franz-Odendaal, T.A., and Solounias, N. Comparative dietary evaluations of an extinct giraffid (Sivatherium hendeyi) (Mammalia, Giraffidae, Sivatheriinae) from Langebaanweg, South Africa (early Pliocene). Geodiversitas 26, (2004). 675–685.Google Scholar
Garret, N., Fox, D., McNulty, K., Tryon, C., and Peppe, D. Isotope paleoecology of the Pleistocene Wasiriya Beds of Rusinga Island, Kenya. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, SVP Program and Abstracts Book 2010, (2010). 94A Google Scholar
Gentry, A.W. Bovidae. Maglio, V.J., and Cooke, H.B.S. Evolution of African Mammals. (1978). Harvard University Press, Cambridge. 540–572.Google Scholar
Gentry, A.W., (1985). The Bovidae of the Omo Group deposits, Ethiopia. In: Les Faunes Plio-Pléistocènes de la Basse Vallée de l'Omo (Ethiope), I: Périssodactyles, Artiodactyles (Bovidae). CNRS, Paris., pp. 119–191.Google Scholar
Gentry, A.W. Bovidae. Werdelin, L., and Sanders, W.J. Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. (2010). University of California Press, Berkeley. 741–796.Google Scholar
Gentry, A.W., and Gentry, A. Fossil Bovidae of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History, Geology Series 29, (1978). 289–446.Google Scholar
Gentry, A.W., Gentry, A., and Mayr, H. Rediscovery of fossil antelope holotypes (Mammalia, Bovidae) collected from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, in 1913. Mitteilungen der Bayerische Staatssamlung für Paläontologie und Historische Geologie 35, (1995). 125–135.Google Scholar
Geraads, D., Alemseged, Z., Reed, D., Wynn, J., and Roman, D.C. The Pleistocene fauna (other than Primates) from Asbole, lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia, and its environmental and biochronological implications. Geobios 37, (2004). 697–718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, W.H. Bovidae. Gilbert, W.H., and Asfaw, B. Homo erectus: Pleistocene evidence from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. (2008). University of California Press, Berkeley. 45–94.Google Scholar
Goloboff, P., Farris, S., Nixon, K., (2000). TNT: Tree analysis using new technology. 1.1. Published by the authors, Tucuman, Argentina.Google Scholar
Hammer, Ø., Harper, D.A.T., and Ryan, P.D. Paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica 4, (2001). 9 pp Google Scholar
Harris, J.M. Family Bovidae. Harris, J.M. Koobi Fora Research Project. The Fossil Ungulates: Geology, Fossil Artiodactyls, and Palaeoenvironments 3, (1991). Clarendon Press, Oxford. 139–320.Google Scholar
Hofmann, R.R., and Stewart, D.R.M. Grazer or browser: a classification based on the stomach structure and feeding habits of East African ruminants. Mammalia 36, (1972). 226–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janis, C.M. An estimation of tooth volume and hypsodonty indices in ungulate mammals, and the correlation of these factors with dietary preference. Russell, D.E., Santoro, J.P., and Sigogneau-Russell, D. Teeth Revisited: Proceedings of the VIIth International Symposium on Dental Morphology. Mémoires du Muséum National d'Historie Naturelle, Series C, Paris (1988). 367–387.Google Scholar
Janis, C.M. Correlation of cranial and dental variables with body size in ungulates and macropodoids. Damuth, J., and MacFadden, B.J. Body Size in Mammalian Paleobiology: Estimation and Biological Implications. (1990). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 255–300.Google Scholar
Janis, C.M. Correlations between craniodental morphology and feeding behavior in ungulates: reciprocal illuminations between living and fossil taxa. Thomason, J.J. Functional Morphology in Vertebrate Paleontology. (1995). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 76–98.Google Scholar
Jarman, P.J. The social organization of antelope in relation to their ecology. Behavior 58, (1974). 215–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, T.C., Scholz, C.A., Talbot, M.R., Kelts, K., Ricketts, R.D., Ngobi, G., Beuning, K., Ssemmanda, I., and McGill, J.W. Late Pleistocene dessication of Lake Victoria and rapid evolution of cichlid fishes. Science 273, (1996). 1091–1093.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kent, P.E. The country round the Kavirondo Gulf of Victoria Nyanza. Geographical Journal 100, (1942). 22–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiage, L.M., and Liu, K. Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental changes in East Africa: a review of multiproxy evidence from palynology, lake sediments, and associated records. Progress in Physical Geology 30, (2006). 633–658.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingdon, J. East African Mammals. (1982). University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. Environmental and ecological implications of large mammals from Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sites in southern Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 81, (1980). 223–283.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. The long-horned African buffalo (Pelorovis antiquus) is an extinct species. Journal of Archaeological Science 21, (1994). 725–733.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, R.G., and Cruz-Uribe, K. The bovids from Elandsfontein, South Africa, and their implications for the age, palaeoenvironment, and origins of the site. African Archaeological Review 9, (1991). 21–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, P.L., and Barnosky, A.D. Late Quaternary extinctions: state of the debate. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 37, (2006). 215–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamprey, H.F. Ecological separation of the large mammal species in the Tarangire Game Reserve, Tanganyika. East African Wildlife Journal 1, (1963). 63–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leakey, L.S.B. By the Evidence: Memoirs 1932–1951. (1974). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York.Google Scholar
MacInnes, D. Fossil tubulidentata from East Africa. Fossil Mammals of Africa 10, (1956). 1–38.Google Scholar
Marean, C.W. Late Quaternary Paleoenvironments and Faunal Exploitation in East Africa. (1990). Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Marean, C.W. Implications of late Quaternary mammalian fauna from Lukenya Hill (south-central Kenya) for paleoenvironmental change and faunal extinctions. Quaternary Research 37, (1992). 239–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marean, C.W., and Gifford-Gonzalez, D. Late Quaternary extinct ungulates of East Africa and palaeoenvironmental implications. Nature 350, (1991). 418–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNaughton, S.J. Grazing lawns: animals in herds, plant form, and coevolution. The American Naturalist 124, (1984). 863–886.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNaughton, S.J. Ecology of a grazing ecosystem: the Serengeti. Ecological Monographs 55, (1985). 259–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehlman, M.J., (1991). Late Quaternary Archaeological Sequences in North Tanzania. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Illinois, .Google Scholar
Merceron, G., Schulz, E., Kordos, L., and Kaiser, T.M. Paleoenvironment of Dryopithceus bancoi at Rudabanya, Hungary: evidence from dental meso- and micro-wear analyses of large vegetarian mammals. Journal of Human Evolution 53, (2007). 331–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, L.E., and Renne, P.R. Diachronous dawn of Africa's Middle Stone Age: new 40Ar/39Ar ages from the Ethiopian Rift. Geology 36, (2008). 967–970.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. Historical fluctuations of Lake Victoria and other lakes in the northern rift valley of East Africa. Lehman, J.T. Environmental Change and Responses in East African Lakes. (1998). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. 7–35.Google Scholar
Peters, C.R., Blumenschine, R.J., Hay, R.L., Livingstone, D.A., Marean, C.W., Harrison, T., Armour-Chelu, M., Andrews, P., Bernor, R.L., Bonnefille, R., and Werdelin, L. Paleoecology of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Sinclair, A.R.E., Packer, C., Mduma, S.A.R., and Fryxell, J.M. Serengeti III: Human Impacts on Ecosystem Dynamics. (2008). University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 47–94.Google Scholar
Pickford, M. Cainozoic paleontological sites of Western Kenya. Müncher Geowissenschaftlich Abhandlungen 8, (1986). 1–151.Google Scholar
Pickford, M., and Thomas, H. An aberrant new bovid (Mammalia) in subrecent deposits from Rusinga Island, Kenya. Proceedings of the Koninjlijke Nederlandsche Akademie van Wettenschappen B87, (1984). 441–452.Google Scholar
Potts, R., and Deino, A.L. Mid-Pleistocene change in large mammal faunas of east Africa. Quaternary Research 43, (1995). 106–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, K.E., (1996). The Paleoecology of Makapansgat and other African Plio-Pleistocene hominid localities. Ph.D. Thesis, State University of New York at Stony Brook, .Google Scholar
Rivals, F., Solounias, N., and Mihlbachler, M.C. Evidence for geographic variation in the diets of late Pleistocene and early Holocene Bison in North America, and differences from the diets of recent Bison . Quaternary Research 68, (2007). 338–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schubert, B.W. Dental mesowear and the paleodiet of bovids from Makapansgat Limeworks Cave, South Africa. Palaeontologia Africana 42, (2007). 43–50.Google Scholar
Schubert, B.W., Ungar, P.S., Sponheimer, M., and Reed, K.E. Microwear evidence for Plio-Pleistocene bovid diets from Makapansgat Limeworks Cave, South Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 241, (2006). 301–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Semprebon, G.M., and Rivals, F. Was grass more prevalent in the pronghorn past? An assessment of the dietary adaptations of Miocene to recent Antilocapridae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 253, (2007). 332–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, L.M., (1995a). Antelopes and grasslands: reconstructing African hominid environments. Ph.D. Thesis, State University of New York at Stony Brook, .Google Scholar
Spencer, L.M. Morphological correlates of dietary resource partitioning in the African Bovidae. Journal of Mammalogy 76, (1995). 448–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, L.M. Dietary adaptations of Plio-Pleistocene Bovidae: implications for hominid habitat use. Journal of Human Evolution 32, (1997). 201–228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sponheimer, M., Reed, K., and Lee-Thorp, J.A. Combining isotopic and ecomorphological data to refine bovid paleodietary reconstruction: a case study from the Makapansgat Limeworks hominin locality. Journal of Human Evolution 36, (1999). 705–718.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sponheimer, M., Lee-Thorp, , De Ruiter, D.J., Smith, J.M., van der Merwe, N.J., Reed, K., Grant, C.C., Ayliffe, L.K., Robinson, T.F., Heidelberger, C., and Marcus, W. Diets of southern African bovidae: stable isotope evidence. Journal of Mammalogy 84, (2003). 471–479.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stager, J.C., and Johnson, T.C. The late Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Victoria and the origin of its endemic biota. Hydrobiologia 596, (2008). 5–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stynder, D.D. The diets of ungulates from the hominid fossil-bearing site of Elandsfontein, Western Cape, South Africa. Quaternary Research 71, (2009). 62–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, D.A. Environmental change in montane southwest Uganda: a pollen record for the Holocene from Ahakagyezi Swamp. Holocene 3, 4 (1993). 324–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tryon, C.A., Faith, J.T., Peppe, D.J., Fox, D.L., McNulty, K.P., Jenkins, K., Dunsworth, H., and Harcourt-Smith, W. The Pleistocene archaeology and environments of the Wasiriya Beds, Rusinga Island, Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution 50, (2010). 657–671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tryon, C.A., and McBrearty, S. Tephrostratigraphy of the Bedded Tuff Member (Kapthurin Formation, Kenya) and the nature of archaeological change in the later Middle Pleistocene. Quaternary Research 65, (2006). 492–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Couvering, J., (1972). Geology of Rusinga Island and correlation of the Kenya Mid-Tertiary fauna. Ph.D. Thesis, Cambridge University, .Google Scholar
Vrba, E. A revision of the Bovini (Bovidae) and a preliminary revised checklist of Bovidae from Makapansgat. Paleontologia Africana 26, (1987). 33–46.Google Scholar
Vrba, E.S. Phylogenetic analysis and classification of fossil and recent Alcelaphini. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 11, (1979). 207–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vrba, E.S. The significance of bovid remains as an indicator of environment and predation patterns. Behrensmeyer, A.K., and Hill, A.P. Fossils in the Making. (1980). University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 247–272.Google Scholar
Vrba, E.S. New fossils of Alcelaphini and Caprinae (Bovidae, Mammalia) from Awash, Ethiopia, and phylogenetic analysis of Alcelaphini. Paleontologia Africana 34, (1997). 127–198.Google Scholar
Whitehouse, B., Hunter, C.S., (1955). Central Africa, Victoria Nyanza (Northern Portion). Uganda Railway Surveys, 1900–01. Corrections and additions to 1955. Admiralty Chart No. 3252. London, UK: Hydrographer of the Navy, 192 Crown Copyright 1929.Google Scholar