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. The species has been proposed to be a stem species of this family but lived outside the African continent, where all other species of the spiral-horned antelopes are distributed. This could mean that the family probably evolved outside Africa and possibly in Eurasia about 8 million years ago. Pheraios lived on semi open plains and probably fed by browsing on bushes.

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.

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.