The Cebu tamaraw (''Bubalus cebuensis'') is a fossil
dwarf buffalo
Insular dwarfism, a form of phyletic dwarfism, is the process and condition of large animals evolving or having a reduced body size when their population's range is limited to a small environment, primarily islands. This natural process is disti ...
discovered in the Philippines, and first described in 2006.
Anatomy and morphology
The most distinctive feature of ''B. cebuensis'' was its small size. Large contemporary domestic water buffalo stand 2 m (roughly 6 ft) at the shoulder and can weigh up to 1 tonne (around 2,000 lb), ''B. cebuensis'' would have stood only 75 cm (2 ft, 6 in) and weighed about 150 to 160 kg (330 to 350 lb), smaller than another dwarf species ''
B. mindorensis''.
[Croft, D.A. L. R. Heaney, J. J. Flynn, and A. P. Bautista. 2006. FOSSIL REMAINS OF A NEW, DIMINUTIVE ''BUBALUS'' (ARTIODACTYLA: BOVIDAE: BOVINI) FROM CEBU ISLAND, PHILIPPINES. ''Journal of Mammalogy'' 87:1037–1051]
The fossil specimen is likely Pleistocene or Holocene in age.
Evolutionary history
The fossil was discovered in a horizontal tunnel in soft
karst
Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...
around 50 m elevation in K-Hill near Balamban,
Cebu Island
Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...
, the Philippines, by mining engineer Michael Armas.
New dwarf buffalo discovered by chance in the Philippines
EurekAlert, October 17, 2006 The fossil was donated to America's Field Museum
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...
, where it stayed unanalyzed for almost 50 years.
See also
* List of extinct animals of the Philippines
References
Bubalus
Prehistoric bovids
Holocene extinctions
Pleistocene mammals of Asia
Pleistocene Artiodactyla
Fossil taxa described in 2006
{{paleo-eventoedungulate-stub