Tragelaphus

Tragelaphus is a genus of medium-to-large-sized spiral-horned antelopes. It contains several species of bovines, all of which are relatively antelope-like. Species in this genus tend to be large in size and lightly built, and have long necks and considerable sexual dimorphism. Elands, including the common eland (Taurotragus oryx), are embedded within this genus, meaning that Taurotragus must be subsumed into Tragelaphus to avoid paraphyly. Alternatively, Taurotragus could be maintained as a separate genus, if the nyala and the lesser kudu are relocated to their own monospecific genera, respectively Nyala and Ammelaphus. Strepsiceros is a generic synonym.<ref>{{#if:624981 | {{#invoke:template wrapper|wrap|_template=cite web|_exclude=id,ID,taxon

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 | title = Tragelaphus Blainville, 1816
 | publisher = Integrated Taxonomic Information System
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 | title = Tragelaphus eurycerus (Ogilby, 1837)
 | publisher = Integrated Taxonomic Information System
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| Template:Citation error }}</ref> The name "Tragelaphus" comes from the mythical tragelaph.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

Template:Cladogram Tragelaphus Template:IPAc-en is a genus in the tribe Tragelaphini and the family Bovidae. The genus authority is French zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, who first mentioned it in the journal Bulletin des Sciences, par la Société Philomatique in 1816.<ref name=MSW3/> The name is not of modern scientific invention, but comes from ancient Greek τραγέλαφος (tragélaphos), from τράγος (trágos), meaning a "male goat", and ἔλαφος (élaphos), meaning a "deer".<ref>Template:MerriamWebsterDictionary</ref>

Extant species

It is generally treated as having eight species, namely:Template:Citation needed.

Male	Female	Common name	Scientific name	Distribution
File:Bongo at Louisville Zoo (224080225).jpg	File:Mountain bongo mount kenya.jpg	Bongo	Tragelaphus eurycerus	Kenya, Central and western Africa
File:Greater kudu in Chobe National Park 02.jpg	File:Female kudu in Moremi Game Reserve - Botswana - panoramio.jpg	Greater kudu	Tragelaphus strepsiceros	eastern and southern Africa
File:Flickr - Rainbirder - Imbabala Bushbuck (Tragelaphus sylvaticus).jpg	File:Cape bushbuck (Tragelaphus sylvaticus) female.jpg	Cape bushbuck	Tragelaphus sylvaticus	Cape in South Africa to Angola and Zambia and up the eastern part of Africa to Ethiopia and Somalia.
File:Tragelaphus scriptus scriptus 344140137.jpg	File:Tragelaphus scriptus scriptus 344140111.jpg	Harnessed bushbuck	Tragelaphus scriptus	distributed from Senegal and southern Mauritania across the Sahel, east to Ethiopia, and south to Angola and the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
File:Lesser Kudu.jpg	File:Gfp-lesser-kudu.jpg	Lesser kudu	Tragelaphus imberbis	Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda
File:Mountain nyala (Tragelaphus buxtoni) male.jpg	File:Tragelaphus buxtoni female.jpg	Mountain nyala	Tragelaphus buxtoni	central Ethiopia.
File:Nyala, male.jpg	File:Female Nyala, Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary.jpg	Lowland nyala or Nyala	Tragelaphus angasii	Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
File:Sitatunga 7984.jpg	File:Tragelaphus spekei Weibchen.jpg	Sitatunga	Tragelaphus spekii	Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, parts of Southern Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Ghana, Botswana, Rwanda, Zambia, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

An alternative classification, supported by genetic data, would recognise 11 species in five groups, which could be treated as subgenera or full genera: (i) Nyala for T. angasii; (ii) Ammelaphus for T. imberbis; (iii) Taurotragus for the two elands (T. oryx and T. derbianus); (iv) Strepsiceros for T. strepsiceros and (v) Tragelaphus restricted to T. buxtoni, T. spekei, T. scriptus, T. sylvaticus (Imbabala - separated from a polyphyletic T. scriptus) and T. eurycerus. In terms of divergence time estimates, a 2006 study showed that core Tragelaphus (now known to excude T. angasii and T. imberbis) diverged from Taurotragus (elands) towards the end of the Late Miocene.<ref name="ropiquet">Template:Cite journal</ref>

References

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