Small lugs

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Small lugs
Royal antelope.jpg

Small ram ( Neotragus pygmaeus )

Systematics
without rank: Forehead weapon bearer (Pecora)
Family : Horned Bearers (Bovidae)
Subfamily : Antilopinae
Tribe : Neotragini
Genre : Neotragus
Type : Small lugs
Scientific name of the  tribe
Neotragini
Sclater & Thomas , 1894
Scientific name of the  genus
Neotragus
CH Smith , 1827
Scientific name of the  species
Neotragus pygmaeus
( Linnaeus , 1758)

The small ram ( Neotragus pygmaeus ), sometimes also called dwarf ram , is a species of antelope that is one of the smallest representatives of the horned bearers . It lives in the West African rainforests between Sierra Leone and Ghana . Little is known about the way of life. It was first mentioned in 1758 and the population is not considered to be threatened.

features

Depiction of the small ram from 1894

With a head-trunk length of 38 to 51 cm plus a 5 to 8 cm long tail, a shoulder height of 24 to 26 cm and a weight of 2 to 3 kg, the small ram is the smallest of today's representatives of the horn-bearers ; only the deer piglets are smaller among the ungulates . The body is relatively compact, the hind legs are very long compared to the front legs. The arched back, which reaches its highest point approximately in the middle, also appears typical. However, this can only be clearly seen in retirement as it flattens out a little while running. The fur is soft and the hair is very close, especially on the trunk. The back, the outside of the legs and the head show a red to golden brown color, which brightens towards the sides, the belly and the inside of the legs are colored white. A broad, yellowish-brown band can be seen on the nape of the neck, which clearly contrasts with the color of the neck. The tail is usually carried close to the body. It is white in color with a brush at the end and the base is darkly colored. Light spots can be formed just above the hooves. There is no special facial drawing. The eyes are large, the ears rounded and spotted with white at the base. The pre-eye glands seem inconspicuous from the outside and are marked by a short-haired area of ​​skin. Subdermally, however, they form a large, plum-shaped glandular body that contains the dark secretion . Horns are only developed in the male and are between 1.8 and 3.5 cm long. They are directed backwards and follow the line of the nose and forehead. Its cross-section is conical, its surface smooth and black in color. The skull length varies between 9.9 and 10.8 cm.

distribution

The small ram is common in western Africa and occurs from southern Guinea via Sierra Leone to Ghana about west of the Volta . It prefers tropical rainforests with dense subsurface vegetation , although the species is more often found in forest- savanna mixed landscapes . It has also been observed in small patches of forest in agricultural areas.

Way of life

Little is known about the way of life of the small ram. It is nocturnal, but can also be active during the day in dense vegetation. Males and females form monogamous couples who occupy individual territories marked with dung heaps . The animals are very shy and always alert. They often stop moving to scan the area for possible dangers. When there is immediate danger at a distance of a few meters, the ram flees into the bushes. The exceptionally strong rear legs enable him to jump 2.8 m in length and 0.5 m in height. Normal locomotion consists of cautious steps with your legs drawn up very high.

The main diet consists of fruits , leaves , sprouts and mushrooms , and very rarely fresh grasses . The most commonly consumed plants include Blepharis , Asystasia and Tridax , as well as Borreria , Desmodium and Euphorbia . As a rule, an animal only plucks the soft parts of the plant and leaves the harder stem behind. However, the small ram can digest larger amounts of fibrous plant material.

The reproduction of the small ram has hardly been studied. A single record of birth in the wild was made in December, a young animal born in captivity weighed 300 g. In principle, only a newborn is born that resembles the adult animal in appearance. The suckling phase lasts three months, ruminating begins in the fourth month of life. The individual development progresses only slowly, with 15 months the boy is sexually mature. Animals lived to be up to twelve years old in captivity.

The predators include the leopard , the golden cat and the serval . Ticks such as Haemaphysalis , Ixodes and Rhipicephalus have been identified as parasites .

Systematics

Position of the small ram within the hornbeam according to Zurano et al. 2019
 Bovidae  

 Bovinae


  Antilopinae  


 Aepycerotini (Impalas)


   

 Nesotragus (goat)



   


 Reduncini (water buck and reed buck)


   

 Antilopini (gazelle-like)



   


  Neotragini  

 Neotragus


   

 Oreotragini (Klipspringer)



   

 Cephalophini (duiker)



   


 Alcelaphini (hartebeest)


   

 Hippotragini (horse rams)



   

 Caprini (goat-like)







Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

The royal antelope is a kind of the genus Neotragus within the family of the Bovidae (Bovidae) and the order of the cloven-hoofed animals (Artiodactyla). It forms the only member of the genus, which is thereby monotypical . Originally, other goats such as the Batesbock or the muskbock were referred to Neotragus , but genetic studies from 2014 showed that these are not closely related to the small ram and form their own genus Nesotragus . According to the analyzes, the closest relatives of the small ram include the klipspringer and the duiker , while the other rams are closely related to the impalas .

In addition to species and genus, the small ram also forms the tribe of the Neotragini . Especially in the 20th century, the Neotragini were often led as the subfamily Neotraginae and contained numerous species and genera. These included primarily the goats of the genus Nesotragus , as well as the deer antelope ( Pelea ), the dikdiks ( Madoqua ), the klipspringer ( Oreotragus ), the Beira ( Dorcatragus ) and the genera Ourebia and Raphicerus . This grouping was not a natural ( monophyletic ) group, but an arbitrary combination of smaller antelopes . Today the roebuck is listed as a close relative of the reed and waterbuck in the Reduncini tribe , the klipspringer form their own tribe ( Oreotragini ). The other genera are classified as gazelle-like (Antilopini). Now that the goats of the genus Nesotragus have been relegated from the Neotragini, only Neotragus remains with one species as the only member.

  • Tribe Neotragini Sclater & Thomas , 1894
  • Genus Neotragus C. H. Smith , 1827
  • Linnaeus ( Neotragus pygmaeus Linnaeus , 1758)

In the future it remains to be seen whether the Neotragini will continue to exist as a tribe or whether they will be connected to the Duckers (Cephalophini) or the Klipspringern (Oreotragini).

The small ram was scientifically introduced by Linnaeus in 1758 under the name Capra pygmaea . He gave the spread "Guinea, India", which was not officially corrected to "Guinea" by Oldfield Thomas in 1911 . Linnaeus probably took his information on the Kleinstböckchen from Albert Seba's work Thesaurus , published in 1734 . The genus name Neotragus , which is valid today, comes from Charles Hamilton Smith in 1827. Smith took the name as a subgenus of antelope and assigned 15 more to it. Philip Lutley Sclater and Oldfield Thomas later rearranged the horned bearers in their The Book of Antelopes in 1894, distinguishing between seven subfamilies within the Neotraginae, in addition to the small ram, including numerous other smaller antelopes such as the ram, the klipspringer or the dikdiks. The tribe rank Neotragini largely only prevailed in the 21st century.

Threat and protection

The IUCN lists the small lugs in the “not endangered” category ( least concern ). A population size of around 62,000 individuals is assumed, but this can also be underestimated since the nocturnal animal is difficult to observe. Hunting and selling the meat as bushmeat could pose a greater threat . For some local ethnic groups, however, the small ram is taboo . Sometimes animals get caught in traps designed for duikers. The species is present in numerous protected areas.

In the fables of some West African peoples, the little ram has a place as a clever and nimble animal and is called "clever" or "cunning rabbit". The English name royal antelope ("king antelope") was first mentioned in 1704 by Willem Bosman from the British colony of Gold Coast (today's Ghana). But he did not state whether this was meant ironically, symbolically or culinary.

literature

  • Colin P. Groves and David M. Leslie Jr .: Family Bovidae (Hollow-horned Ruminants). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 2: Hooved Mammals. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2011, ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4 , p. 621.
  • Jonathan Kingdon and Michael Hoffmann: Neotragus pygmaeus Royal Antelope. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume VI. Pigs, Hippopotamuses, Chevrotain, Giraffes, Deer and Bovids. Bloomsbury, London, 2013, pp. 211-213.
  • Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
  • Bernhard Grzimek: Grzimeks animal life. Mammals, Volume 13. dtv, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-423-03207-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ H.-J. Kuhn: Antorbital gland and lacrimal duct of Neotragus pygmaeus. Zeitschrift für Mammaliankunde 41, 1976, pp. 369-380.
  2. ↑ Colin Groves and Peter Grubb: Ungulate Taxonomy. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, pp. 1-317 (pp. 108-280).
  3. ↑ a b c d e Colin P. Groves and David M. Leslie Jr .: Family Bovidae (Hollow-horned Ruminants). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 2: Hooved Mammals. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2011, ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4 , p. 621.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Jonathan Kingdon and Michael Hoffmann: Neotragus pygmaeus Royal Antelope. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume VI. Pigs, Hippopotamuses, Chevrotain, Giraffes, Deer and Bovids. Bloomsbury, London, 2013, pp. 211-213.
  5. ↑ a b c Jennifer Owen: Behavior and diet of a captive Royal antelope, Neotragus pygmaeus. Mammalia 37, 1973, pp. 56-65.
  6. ↑ Debra A. Schmidt, Michael L. Schlegel and Michael L. Galyean: Fiber digestibility in Royal antelope (Neotragus pygmaeus). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 45 (4), 2014, pp. 744-748.
  7. ↑ Y. Ntiamoa-Baidu, C. Carr-Saunders, BE Matthews, PM Preston and AR Walker: An updated list of the ticks of Ghana and an assessment of the distribution of the ticks of Ghanaian wild mammals in different vegetation zones. Bulletin of Entomological Research 94, 2004, pp. 245-260.
  8. ↑ Juan P. Zurano, Felipe M. Magalhães, Ana E. Asato, Gabriel Silva, Claudio J. Bidau, Daniel O. Mesquita and Gabriel C. Costa: Cetartiodactyla: Updating a time-calibrated molecular phylogeny. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 133, 2019, pp. 256-262.
  9. ^ A b c Eva V. Bärmann and Tim Schikora: The polyphyly of Neotragus - Results from genetic and morphometric analyzes. Mammalian Biology 79, 2014, pp. 283-286.
  10. ^ Colin Groves: Current taxonomy and diversity of crown ruminants above the species level. Zitteliana B 32, 2014, pp. 5-14.
  11. ^ Carl von Linné: Systema naturae. 10th edition, 1758, volume 1, p. 69 ( [1] ).
  12. ↑ Oldfield Thomas: The mammals of the tenth edition of Linnaeus; an attempt to fix the types of the genera and the exact bases and localities of the species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1911, pp. 120-158.
  13. ^ Charles Hamilton Smith: Order VII - Ruminantia. In: Edward Griffith (Ed.): The Animal Kingdom, arranged in conformity with its organization, by the Baron Cuvier. Volume V. Mammalia. London, 1827, pp. 296-376 (p. 349) ( [2] ).
  14. ^ Philip Lutley Sclater and Oldfield Thomas: The Book of Antelopes. Volume I. London, 1894-1900, p. 2 ( [3] ).
  15. ^ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group: Neotragus pygmaeus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.1. ( [4] ); last accessed on June 2, 2015.

Web links

Commons : Neotragus pygmaeus  - collection of images, videos and audio files