Pheraios

Pheraios chryssomallos

Resurrected on:

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Genus information

Pheraios was a medium sized antelope from the Miocene epoch of Greece. It had two spiral-shaped horns on its head, comparable to that of other spiral-horned antelopes like Kudu and Bushbuck. Pheraios has been proposed to be a stem member of its African family. Having its distribution in Southern Europe means that the family of spiral-horned antelopes didn't evolved in Africa, but potentially originate from Eurasia somewhere 8 million years ago.

Family:

Distribution:

Epoch:

Bovidae

Europe

Miocene

Species information

Pheraios chryssomallos was first discovered in 1996 in central Greece and officially described in 2006. It is the only species within the genus and the oldest member of the spiral-horned antelope family. Pheraios lived on semi open plains and probably fed on high grasses and bushes by browsing.

Species:

Paleontologist:

Distribution:

Epoch:

Pheraios chryssomallos

Kostopoulo & Koufos, 2006

Europe

Miocene

Length:

Height:

Weight:

1.7 m

1.1 m

190 kg

Reference:

Kostopoulos, D. S., & Koufos, G. D. (2006). Pheraios chryssomallos, gen. et sp. nov.(Mammalia, Bovidae, Tragelaphini), from the Late Miocene of Thessaly (Greece): Implications for tragelaphin biogeography. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 26(2), 436-445.