''Ugandax'' is an extinct genus of

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 ...

s in the subtribe

Bubalina Bubalina is a subtribe of wild cattle that includes the various species of true buffalo. Species include the African buffalo, the anoas, and the wild water buffalo (including the domesticated variant water buffalo). Buffaloes can be found natu ...

that lived from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

to the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

of Africa.

Cladistic Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is ...

analyses suggest ''Ugandax'' represents an ancestral form of the

African buffalo The African buffalo (''Syncerus caffer)'' is a large sub-Saharan African bovine. The adult African buffalo's horns are its characteristic feature: they have fused bases, forming a continuous bone shield across the top of the head, referred to ...

, ''

Syncerus ''Syncerus'' is a genus of African bovid that contains the living Cape buffalo ''(Syncerus caffer)'', including the distinct African forest buffalo The African forest buffalo (''Syncerus caffer nanus''), also known as the dwarf buffalo or the ...

'', and teeth assigned to ''Ugandax'' represent the earliest appearance of bovines in Africa.

References

Bubalina Prehistoric bovids Miocene mammals of Africa Pliocene mammals of Africa Pleistocene mammals of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1970 Prehistoric Artiodactyla genera {{Paleo-eventoedungulate-stub