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. The name "Tragelaphus" comes from the mythical tragelaph.
Taxonomy and phylogeny
Tragelaphus 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. 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".
While traditionally the genus Taurotragus has been used for the two species of elands, this creates a paraphyly. As such, Taurotragus has been demoted to a subgenus. Similarly, the nyala, the lesser kudu, and the greater kudu each have their own monospecific subgenera, respectively Nyala, Ammelaphus, and Strepsiceros. Genus Boocercus formerly contained T. eurycerus.
Extant species The following 10 species are assigned to this genus: Male Female Common name Subgenus Scientific name Distribution Lesser kudu Ammelaphus T. imberbisEthiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda Lowland nyala or NyalaNyala T. angasiiEswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Greater kudu Strepsiceros T. strepsiceros eastern and southern Africa Giant eland Taurotragus T. derbianus Senegal to Mali (western subspecies) and Cameroon to South Sudan (western subspecies) Common eland Taurotragus T. oryx Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe Bongo Tragelaphus T. eurycerusKenya, Central and western Africa Cape bushbuck Tragelaphus T. sylvaticus Cape in South Africa to Angola and Zambia and up the eastern part of Africa to Ethiopia and Somalia. Harnessed bushbuck Tragelaphus T. 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. Mountain nyala Tragelaphus T. buxtonicentral Ethiopia. Sitatunga Tragelaphus T. 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.
In terms of divergence time estimates, a 2006 study showed that core Tragelaphus (now known to exclude T. angasii and T. imberbis) diverged from Taurotragus (elands) towards the end of the Late Miocene.
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