Bramatherium

Bramatherium
Temporal range: Late Miocene[1]-Pliocene
Bramatherium perimense skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Giraffidae
Genus: Bramatherium
Falconer, 1845
Species
  • B. perimense (type)
    Falconer 1845
  • B. progressus
  • B. giganteus
    (Khan and Sarwar 2002)
  • B. megacephalum
    (Lydekker 1876)
  • B. grande
    (Lydekker 1880)
  • B. magnum
    (Pilgrim 1910)
  • B. suchovi
    Godina 1977

Bramatherium (Brahma’s beast) is an extinct genus of giraffids that ranged from India to Turkey in Asia. It is closely related to the larger Sivatherium.

Etymology[edit]

Bramatherium perimense skull

The first part of the generic name, Brahma (Sanskrit masculine brahman-, nominative brahmā ब्रह्मा), is in reference to the Hindu god of creation. The second part, "therium", comes from the Greek word θηρίον (transliterated therion), meaning 'beast'.

Description[edit]

Bramatherium was built very similarly to Sivatherium. Alive, it would have resembled a heavily built okapi and had a crown-like set of four, radiating ossicones. Fossils, and examination of teeth in particular, suggested the living animals dwelled woodlands and wetlands.[2]

See also[edit]


References[edit]

  1. ^ Geraads, Denis, and Erksin Güleç. "A Bramatherium skull (Giraffidae, Mammalia) from the late Miocene of Kavakdere (Central Turkey). Biogeographic and phylogenetic implications." Mineral Res. Expl. Bul 121 (1999): 51–56.
  2. ^ Khan, M. A., Akhtar, M., & Irum, A. (2014). Bramatherium (Artiodactyla, Ruminantia, Giraffidae) from the middle Siwaliks of Hasnot, Pakistan: biostratigraphy and palaeoecology. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences, 23(3), 308-320. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2021.1898976
  • Falconer, H. (1845) “Description of some fossil remains of Deinotherium, Giraffe, and other mammalia, from Perim Island, Gulf of Cambay, Western Coast of India”, J. Geol. Soc., 1, 356–372.