Giraffidae (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene of Kalimantsi and Hadjidimovo, Southwestern Bulgaria

Abstract

The various Late Miocene localities around the Bulgaria yielded a rich collection of giraffes, including Helladotherium duvernoyi, Bohlinia attica and Palaeotragus rouenii. These are the same species as at Pikermi, suggesting that there is no great age difference between these localities, but the limb-bones of both former species are stouter at Kalimantsi than in the Greek site, a difference which is perhaps of ecological origin. The absence of Samotherium, known in the geographically close sites of Greek Macedonia might be a consequence of the isolation of the river basins.