A new late Miocene bovid (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Bovidae) from Çorakyerler (Turkey)

Abstract

We describe here five new bovid crania from the Çorakyerler fossil site (Tüglu Formation, Çankırı Basin, north-central Anatolia, Turkey), the fauna of which is dated by magneto- and biostratigraphy to the late Miocene, around the Vallesian–Turolian boundary. The material is assigned to a new bovid taxon of medium-to-large size, Gangraia anatolica gen. and sp. nov., characterized by horn cores that are long, keelless, compressed, obliquely inserted on the frontals, transversally ridged, moderately diverging from each other, slightly twisted homonymously, and sigmoidally curved in lateral view with long, fairly straight tips. The horn core features, along with the presence of a single large sinus occupying the pedicle and the base of the horn core, a strong cranial flexion, a short braincase, the presence of a distinct dorsal parietal boss, wide-apart temporal crests, and a widened anteriorly basioccipital, indicate a mixture of caprine-like and alcelaphine-like features that relate Gangraia anatolica gen. and sp. nov. to the Alcelaphini–Caprini–Hippotragini clade.