''Leptobos'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of large

bovine Bovines (subfamily Bovinae) comprise a diverse group of 10 genera of medium to large-sized ungulates, including Bos, cattle, bison, African buffalo, Bubalus, water buffalos, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes. The members of this gro ...

, known from the Late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Early Pleistocene The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial epoch (geology), sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently esti ...

of Eurasia.

Distribution

The range of ''Leptobos'' extended from the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

to northern China. ''L. merlai'' is known from the Early Pleistocene of central Italy.

Description

Species of ''Leptobos'' weighed on average .

Evolution

The first appearance of ''Leptobos'' in Europe around 3.6-3.5 million years ago is considered to define the beginning of the

Villafranchian Villafranchian age ( ) is a period of geologic time (3.5–1.0 Ma) spanning the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. Named by Italian geologist Lorenzo Pareto for a sequence of terrestrial se ...

European faunal stage. ''Leptobos'' is considered to be closely related to the insular genus '' Epileptobos'' from the Pleistocene of

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

'''', and is considered to be ancestral to ''

Bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

''. ''Leptobos'' became extinct after being replaced by their descendant ''Bison'' during the Early Pleistocene, after a period of temporal overlap. "''Leptobos" syrticus'' from Libya likely belongs in a different genus.

Species

* ''Leptobos brevicornis'' (China) * ''Leptobos crassus'' (China) * ''Leptobos falconeri'' (Pakistan) * ''Leptobos stenometopon'' (France and Italy) * ''Leptobos merlai'' (France and Italy) * ''Leptobos furtivus'' (France also possibly Italy) * ''Leptobos etruscus'' (France, Italy, and Spain) * ''Leptobos vallisarni'' (Italy and China)

Palaeobiology

The dietary preference across the genus includes species that were

browsers Browse, browser, or browsing may refer to: Computing *Browser service, a feature of Microsoft Windows to browse shared network resources *Code browser, a program for navigating source code *File browser or file manager, a program used to manage f ...

, grazers and mixed feeders. Ecomorphological analysis of its

humerus The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extrem ...

suggests that ''L. etruscus'' was adapted for open grassland habitats.

References

External links

*http://www.helsinki.fi/~mhaaramo/metazoa/deuterostoma/chordata/synapsida/eutheria/artiodactyla/bovioidea/boselaphini.html
Paleobiology Database
Prehistoric bovids Pleistocene Artiodactyla Fossil taxa described in 1878 Prehistoric Artiodactyla genera {{paleo-eventoedungulate-stub