Late Miocene ‘ovibovin’ bovids (Mammalia, Bovidae) from Çorakyerler, Turkey

ABSTRACT Fossil ‘ovibovin’ bovids are described from the Upper Miocene of Çorakyerler (north-central Anatolia). Two taxa have been recognized: the predominant Criotherium argalioides, known by several craniodental remains, and the less common Hezhengia? cf. inundata, documented by a few dentitions. A review of C. argalioides records from Samos and Kemiklitepe D and a thorough comparison with the Çorakyerler sample provides new data on the morphological and metric variability of this taxon, as well as its chronological and geographic range. Hezhengia? cf. inundata from Çorakyerler reveals important similarities with the Garkin (Turkey) taxon, which, in contrast to previous studies, we find more similar to the Chinese Hezhengia than to the Chinese Plesiaddax as originally suggested. The same is true for “Plesiaddax” simplex from Kayadibi (Turkey), which is referred to as Hezhengia? simplex. The co-occurrence of two ‘ovibovin’ bovids of similar size in the same assemblage was previously suspected but never before documented.