Geo (Im) pulse Caprovis savinii (Bovidae, Mammalia) rediscovered: horn core finds of an Early Pleistocene antelope from the North Sea floor

Abstract

For more than 120 years since the name Caprovis savinii was founded on the basis of a bovid horn core from the ‘Forest Bed’ at Overstrand (Norfolk, UK), only one other find has been assigned to this species. Recently, two horn cores and one horn core fragment of the species have been discovered at two sand and gravel sorting centres in the Netherlands. The bone-bearing sediments are exposed on the North Sea floor, just off the coast of Great Yarmouth (Norfolk, UK). By comparing fossil and extant taxa, a classification within the bovid tribe Antilopini is proposed. Based on the accompanying fauna from the specific dredging area and the litho- and chronostratigraphy at Overstrand, C. savinii is placed within the Early Pleistocene.