Tragelaphus angasii

The lowland nyala or simply nyala is a spiral-horned artiodactyl antelope native to Southern Africa. The species is part of the family Bovidae and the genus Tragelaphus. It was first described in 1849 by George French Angas and exhibits the highest sexual dimorphism among the spiral-horned antelopes. It is not to be confused with the endangered mountain nyala living in the Bale region of Ethiopia.

Tragelaphus angasii

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
nyalaPBDB
Sits inside
TragelaphusPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Tragelaphus
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Bovidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At most 24 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 23.04 Mya and 0 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Oligocene — about 0 of 8 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 8 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 8 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 3 of 8 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–1.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.6–785 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence785 ka–0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences23.5 Mya0 Mya

8 occurrences of Tragelaphus angasii on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

8 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

6 formations

Chiwondo — 9.83°S, 34.83°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°EVarswater & Bredasdorp — 32.98°S, 18.15°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EVarswater — 32.96°S, 18.11°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Tragelaphus angasii has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tragelaphus angasii and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Tragelaphus angasii and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

273 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Tragelaphus angasii, 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

7 references

Each of the 8 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. 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 content1

Picture of Tragelaphus angasii

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

No 3D scan of Tragelaphus angasii was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itTragelaphus through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1849