Menelikia


Menelikia is a genus of extinct Artiodactyl mammals, belonging to the bovids. It lived from the middle Pliocene to the middle Pleistocene and its fossils are found in East Africa.

Description

This animal was likely similar to the contemporary Kobus ellipsiprymnus or Kobus megaceros. It was a medium-to-large sized antelope.

Classification

The genus Menelikia was coined by Arambourg in 1941 on the basis of fossil finds in the east Africa Plio-Pleistocene. The type specimen for Menelikia lyrocera lived between 3.4 and 1.4 million years ago. The species M. leakeyi, described in 1991, is slightly older. Menelikia is a part of the group Reduncini, which are African bovids with numerous species of antelopes that have semiaquatic lifestyles. They are currently confined to Africa but in the past have had wider ranges.

Paleobiology

In general Menelikia possessed characteristics of a mixed-feeding browser.