Samotherium is a giraffe from Miocene Africa, Asia, and Europe. The name Samotherium means beast of Samos.
Description[]
Credit: Frederik Spindler
Its name means as: the beast of Samos. Samotherium had two ossicones on its head, and long legs. The ossicones usually pointed upward, and were curved backwards, with males having larger, more curved ossicones, though in the Chinese species, S. sinense, the straight ossicones point laterally, not upwards. The genus is closely related to Shansitherium. Fossil evidence suggests that Samotherium had a rounded muzzle, which would suggest a grazing lifestyle and a habitat composed of grasslands.
The Amphimachairodus interpreted as a predator for this species of herbivore. Samotherium major, known from the Late Miocene of Samos in Greece and other Eurasian localities, is a key extinct giraffid; it possesses cervical vertebrae that are intermediate in the evolutionary elongation of the neck. A study detailed anatomical features of the cervicals of S. major, and compare these characteristics with the vertebrae of the two extant giraffid taxa. Based on qualitative morphological characters and a quantitative analysis of cervical dimensions, the S. major neck is intermediate between that of the okapi and the giraffe.
Specifically, the more cranial vertebrae of S. major represent a mosaic of features shared either with the giraffe or with the okapi. The more caudal S. major vertebrae, however, appear transitional between the two extant taxa, and hence are more unique. Notably, the S. major exhibits a partially excavated ventral lamina that is strong cranially but completely absent on the caudal half of the ventral vertebral body, features between those seen in the giraffe and the okapi. Comprehensive anatomical descriptions and measurements of the almost-complete cervical column reveal that S. major is a truly intermediate-necked giraffid.
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