Khersonotherium is a genus of prehistoric giraffes. Its remains were found in Ukraine[1][2] and in Africa.[3]

Khersonotherium
Temporal range: Miocene to Pliocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Giraffidae
Genus: Khersonotherium

Etymology

edit

The first part of the generic name, "Kherson" refers to a city in Ukraine, where the first specimens were recovered. The second part, therium, comes from the Greek, θηρίον which means "beast".

Distribution

edit

Most fossils of Khersonotherium are found in Ukraine. In Russia and Ukraine the fauna in which it lived is called "hipparionova fauna" - the fauna in which Hipparion was a dominant member. A skeleton of Khersonotherium, found in Odessa, a city in Ukraine, is displayed in Kyiv Paleontological Museum.[2]

Footnotes

edit
  1. ^ Krachmal'nova; et al. Putivnyk po Paleontologichnomy Museyu[Ukrainian].
  2. ^ a b LIV СЕССИЯ ПАЛЕОНТОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО ОБЩЕСТВА. ГЕОБИОСФЕРНЫЕ -СОБЫТИЯ И ИСТОРИЯ - ОРГАНИЧЕСКОГО МИРА[Russian].
  3. ^ W.R.Hamilton. Fossil Giraffes from Miocene of Africa.
edit