Extinct genus of mammals
Climacoceras (from Greek for "ladder horns") is a genus of extinct artiodactyl ungulates that lived in Africa and Europe during the Miocene. The members of "Climacoceras" were related to giraffes, and the genus was formerly placed within the Giraffidae, but is now placed in the Climacoceratidae, a sister group within the superfamily Giraffoidea. Fossils of the two best known species of "Climacoceras", "C. africanus" and "C. gentryi", have both been found in Kenya. The animals measured about tall and had large ossicones resembling antlers. "C. africanus" had ossicones resembling tall, thorn-covered plant stems, while the ossicones of "C. gentryi" resembled thorny crescents.
The genus was once placed within Palaeomerycidae, then Giraffidae. It is now considered a giraffoid in the family Climacoceratidae, erected by Hamilton.
Other Climacoceratidae genera include "Prolibytherium" from Egypt and Libya and "Orangemeryx" from Namibia and South Africa.
References.
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