Aepyceros melampus

The impala or rooibok is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus Aepyceros, and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to Europeans by German zoologist Hinrich Lichtenstein in 1812. Two subspecies are recognised—the grassland-dwelling common impala, and the larger and darker black-faced impala, which lives in slightly more arid, scrubland environments. The impala reaches 70–92 cm (28–36 in) at the shoulder and weighs 40–65 kg (88–143 lb). It features a glossy, reddish brown coat. The male's slender, lyre-shaped horns are 45–92 cm (18–36 in) long.

Aepyceros melampus

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
impalaPBDB
Sits inside
AepycerosPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Bovidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Bovidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 3.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 3 of 70 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 59 of 70 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 8 of 70 occurrences3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.4–3.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.0–2.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.0–1.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.1–957 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences957 ka–820 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences820 ka–683 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences683 ka–547 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence547 ka–410 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence410 ka–273 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence273 ka–137 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence137 ka–0 Mya — about 11 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka4.1 Mya0 Mya

70 occurrences of Aepyceros melampus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

70 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Koobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 3.86°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.31°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.23°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.38°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 4.53°N, 35.75°ENachukui — 4.11°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.15°N, 35.74°ENachukui — 4.00°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.22°N, 35.83°ENachukui — 4.10°N, 35.77°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°EWehaietu — 10.90°N, 40.48°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EKaiso Village — 1.50°N, 31.00°EVogel River Series — 3.21°S, 35.19°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°E

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The named rock units Aepyceros melampus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Aepyceros melampus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Aepyceros melampus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

401 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 70 sites for Aepyceros melampus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

24 references

Each of the 70 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 12 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Aepyceros melampus

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Aepyceros melampus · zmh-s:10162

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAepyceros through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Lichtenstein 1812)