The First Finding of the Genus <i>Megalovis</i> (Artiodactyla, Bovidae) in the Lower Pleistocene of the Taurida Cave in the Crimea

Abstract

The presence of Megalovis latifrons Schaub, 1923 is discovered in the composition of the Early Pleistocene fauna (1.8–1.5 Ma) of Taurida Cave in the Crimea. A fragment of the frontal bone with a part of the horn core, the incomplete upper and lower jaws, the metacarpus and metatarsus of M. latifrons are described. This large fossil representative of Ovibovini has been known only by the very rare finds from the Lower Pleistocene of the south of Western and Central Europe. Megalovis inhabited Eurasia in the late Early Pleistocene and a very beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. In Russia this species is found for the first time. The data obtained are important for clarifying the morphological features and geographic and stratigraphic distribution of this species.