Gazella capricornis Blainville 1816
Creators: name: Kostopoulos, Dimitris S.
name: Karakütük, Seval
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Bovidae
Gazella

description: Gazella cf. G. capricornis (Wagner, 1848)
Fig. 2.
Material.—MYŞE PV-2501, frontlet; MYŞE PV-1577, PV-1834, right horn cores; MYŞE PV-560, PV-1578, left horn cores; MYŞE PV-1831, PV-1832, partial right horn cores; MYŞE PV-1359, PV-1632, PV-1828, partial left horn cores; MYŞE PV-1360, partial horn core; MYŞE PV-1830, 1633, 1393, distal portions of horn cores; MYŞE PV-2572, palate; MYŞE PV-2575 right upper tooth row P2–M3; MYŞE PV-2000, PV-2558, PV-2562, PV-2564, right mandibular body with p2–m3; MYŞE PV-2557, PV-2563, left mandibular body with p2–m3; MYŞE PV-2565, left mandibular body with p3–m3; MYŞE PV-1526, right m3.All from Şerefköy-2, Turkey, Late Turolian (Late Miocene).
Description.— Gazella cf. G. capricornis is the only gazelle present at Şerefköy-2, and represented by at least 5 individuals. The supraorbital foramen is located close to the pedicle, within an elliptical and rather narrow depression (Fig. 2C 1). The postcornual fossa is oval, small, and moderately deep. The pedicle is moderately high anteriorly (Fig. 2C). The horn cores are short (maximum length: 100 mm along the anterior surface), inserted moderately far apart from each other, and weakly divergent distally (Fig. 2C 1). In lateral view, the horn core is slightly curved and moderately inclined posteriorly (Fig. 2A, B, C 2), while in cross section it changes from being symmetrically elliptical near the base (owing to weak mediolateral compression) to a more rounded shape towards the tip (TD × 100/APD = 70.4–73.2 at the base, n = 4, and 84.6–104.6 at 7 cm above the base, n = 3; Table 1). Strong, deep, and continuous furrows run along both the anterior and posterior surfaces of the horn core.
The premolars are moderately long compared to the molars (Fig. 2D–F), with the upper and lower premolar/molar ratios equalling about 71% (n = 1) and 54–60% (n = 6), respectively (SOM 3: Tables 1, 2). There is no entostyle on the upper molars. M3 has a strong metastyle and a weak mesostyle (Fig. 2F). The anterior conid of p3 and p4 is weak, but separated from the anterior stylid (MYŞE PV-2000). The mesolingual conid is elongated and oriented posteriorly on p3, but more triangular (during early wear) and located relatively further posteriorly on p4 (Fig. 2D, E). The anterior valley of p3 and p4 is widely open (Fig. 2D, E). The posterior valley of p4 is open in the single unworn specimen (MYŞE PV-2000) and still visible even at advanced stages of wear (Fig. 2D, E). A small ectostylid is present on m1. The mesostylids on m2 and m3 are strong.
Remarks.—The gazelle from Şerefköy-2 is considerably larger than Gazella ancyrensis Tekkaya, 1973 from Middle Sinap, as well as G. cf. ancyrensis from Maragheh (Iran), Samos (Greece), and Kemiklitepe-D (Turkey), but smaller than Gazella mytilinii Pilgrim, 1926 from Samos (Bouvrain 1994; Kostopoulos 2009a; Kostopoulos and Bernor 2011). Gazella pilgrimi Bohlin, 1935 from Samos and the Axios Valley (Greece) and Akkaşdağı (Turkey) differs from the Şerefköy- 2 specimens in having a shorter pedicle, as well as a longer, more mediolaterally compressed, and more strongly inclined horn core (Bouvrain 1996; Kostopoulos 2005, 2009a).
The overall shape of the horn core of the Şerefköy-2 gazelle recalls both Gazella deperdita (Gervais, 1847) from Western Europe and the SE European Gazella capricornis (Wagner, 1848). However, the horn core of G. deperdita is larger (Fig. 3), much more curved in lateral view, more inclined posteriorly, and more mediolaterally compressed along its distal portion. Gazella capricornis was originally described from Pikermi (Greece), but similar forms are widely distributed between the Balkans and Iran (Kostopoulos 2005, 2009a; Kostopoulos and Bernor 2011). Both Gazella cf. G. capricornis from Samos (particularly specimens from Mytilinii-1A) and the Şerefköy-2 gazelle are characterised by an anterior conid distinct from the anterior stylid on p3 and p4, and the closing of the posterior valley of p4 at late wear stages. Together with G. cf. G. capricornis from Akkaşdağı and Maragheh, they further differ from typical specimens of G. capricornis from Pikermi in having slightly shorter premolars compared to the molars (Table 2).
description: Published as part of Kostopoulos, Dimitris S. & Karakütük, Seval, 2015, Late Miocene bovids from Şerefköy- 2 (SW Turkey) and their position within the sub-Paratethyan biogeographic province, pp. 49-66 in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 60 (1) on pages 50-51, DOI: 10.4202/app.2012.0129, http://zenodo.org/record/10626287