A NEW GENUS OF CAPRINI (BOVIDAE, ARTIODACTYLA) FROM UPPER PLIOCENE OF YUSHE, SHANSI

In the present paper a new caprine, Sinocapra minor gen. et sp. nov. is erected on the basis of several horn cores. The type specimen was collected by the Sino-American Palaeontology Expedition from the Upper Pliocene, Mazegou Formation, of Yunzhu Subbasin, Yushe Basin, Shansi province in 1988. All the other ones referred to the new genus were described and identified by Teilhard de Chardin and Trassaert (1938, p. 53, fig. 46) as Antilope gen. et sp. indet. They also came from Zhaozhuang, Yunzhu Subbasin and it is likely that they might be gathered from the same Formation as the type specimen judging by the yellow sandy clay filling into the horn cores. Magnetostratigraphic studies by Prof. N. Opdyke of the Yunzhu Subbasin indicates that this stratigraphic interval only includes the Gauss one, approximately 3.4 to 2.47 Ma. Accounts of the biostratigraphy and dating of Yunzhu Subbasin are giyen by Dr. R. H. Tedford and Dr. Z. Qiu in another paper.