On reconstructing Giraffa sivalensis, an extinct giraffid from the Siwalik Hills, India.

ABSTRACT: Giraffa sivalensis occurred during the Plio-Pleistocene period and probably represents the terminal species of the genus in Southern Asia. The holotype is an almost perfectly preserved cervical vertebra of disputed anatomical location. Although there is also uncertainty regarding this animal's size, other specimens that have been assigned to this species include fragments of two humeri, a radius, metacarpi and teeth. Here we estimate neck length, leg length and body mass using interspecific and, unusually, ontogenetic allometry of extant giraffe skeletal parameters. The appropriateness of each equation to estimate body mass was evaluated by calculating the prediction error incurred in both extant giraffes (G. camelopardalis) and okapis (Okapia johnstoni). It followed that the equations wit

SUBMITTER: van Sittert SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4540016 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature