Plio-Pleistocene Hyracoidea from Swartkrans Cave, South Africa

Abstract

Swartkrans Cave, an important Pleistocene hominid site in the Sterkfontein valley, has yielded abundant (ossil hyracoid remains. Two extinct taxa, Procavia antiqua and P. transvaalensis, have been previously reported to occur at the site in deposits postdating 1,8 million years before the present (B.P.). The extant taxon, P. capensis, has been reported in the most recent deposits, thought to include the Terminal Pleistocene. However, statistical analyses of teeth suggest that P. antiqua and P. capensis are conspecific. P. transvaalensis differs from P. capensis by being larger and more hypsodont. The coexistence of these taxa in palaeoenvironments of the Sterkfontein valley is attributed to dietary differences: P. transvaalensis being dependent primarily on grass foliage in grassland habitats, P. capensis being a generalist, feeding on a range of different kinds of vegetation in rocky habitats. Hypoconid-metaconid distances, previously used by Broom to distinguish taxa, are shown to be related to individu...