Comptes Rendus Palevol
3 (8) - Pages 663-673A new species of the genus Ammotragus is described from the assemblage III of Vallonnet cave (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, France). These remains were interpreted as Ovis, but the re-study of the dental collection from the site and a first study of a partial braincase with the basal internal region of the horn-core pedicels, the parietals, the temporals, and the basisphenoid bones, show anatomical differences with the Caprini genera Ovis, Capra, and Hemitragus and the Ovibovini genus Soergelia. At the opposite, anatomical similarities of the Vallonnet material to the extant North-African Caprini genus Ammotragus are observed. The age of Vallonnet cave is dated by palaeomagnetic techniques at about 1.0 Ma. Teeth remains similar to the Vallonnet species have been found at Fuente Nueva-3 (Orce, Andalusia, Spain).
Caprini, new species, Vallonnet cave, Early Pleistocene, France
