View source for Bootherium

{{Short description|Extinct genus of bovid mammal}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = middle to late [[Pleistocene]], {{fossil range|0.781|0.012}}
| image = Harlan's musk ox (cast) - Indiana State Museum - DSC00404.JPG
| image_caption = 
| genus = Bootherium
| parent_authority = [[Joseph Leidy|Leidy]], 1852
| display_parents = 2
| species = bombifrons
| authority = ([[Richard Harlan|Harlan]], 1825)
| synonyms = ''Symbos cavifrons''
}}

'''''Bootherium''''' (Greek: "ox" (boos), "beast" (therion)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://research.amnh.org/paleontology/perissodactyl/concepts/glossary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120123130/https://research.amnh.org/paleontology/perissodactyl/concepts/glossary|archive-date=20 November 2021|title=Glossary. American Museum of Natural History}}</ref>) is an [[extinction|extinct]] [[bovid]] [[genus]] from the [[Middle Pleistocene|Middle]] to [[Late Pleistocene]] of [[North America]] which contains a single [[species]], '''''Bootherium bombifrons'''''.<ref name="range">McKenna & Bell, 1997, p. 442.</ref> [[Vernacular]] names for ''Bootherium'' include '''Harlan's muskox''', '''woodox''', '''woodland muskox''',<ref name="The Academy of Natural Sciences">[http://www.ansp.org/museum/jefferson/otherFossils/bootherium.php The Academy of Natural Sciences] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080407140851/http://www.ansp.org/museum/jefferson/otherFossils/bootherium.php |date=April 7, 2008 }}</ref> '''helmeted muskox''',<ref>[http://www.erudit.org/revue/GPQ/2003/v57/n2/011316ar.html Helmeted Muskox (''Bootherium bombifrons'') from Near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta: Dating Evidence for Redeposition in Late Pleistocene Alluvium]</ref> or '''bonnet-headed muskox'''.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1046/j.1523-1739.1999.97417.x | volume=13 | title=War Zones and Game Sinks in Lewis and Clark's West | year=1999 | journal=Conservation Biology | pages=36–45 | last1 = Martin | first1 = Paul S.| issue=1 | bibcode=1999ConBi..13...36M | s2cid=8580899 }}</ref> 

==Taxonomy==
[[File:Bootherium bombifrons.JPG|thumb|Skull]] 
''Symbos'' was formerly thought to be a separate genus, but is now known to be synonymous.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=McDonald|first1=Jerry N.|last2=Ray|first2=Ray, Clayton E.|date=1989|title=Autochthonous North American Musk Oxen Bootherium, Symbos, and Gidleya (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Bovidae)|journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology|issue=66|pages=1–77|doi=10.5479/si.00810266.66.1|issn=0081-0266|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/itempdf/266430}}</ref> Its closest living relative is the [[muskox]] (''Ovibos moschatus''), from which it diverged around 3 million years ago.<ref name="MitogenomeOfTheMuskox">{{Cite journal |last=West |first=Abagael Rosemary |date=January 2016 |title=Mitogenome of the extinct helmeted musk ox, Bootherium bombifrons |journal=Mitochondrial DNA Part B |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=862–863 |doi=10.1080/23802359.2016.1250136 |issn=2380-2359 |pmc=7799672 |pmid=33473657 |language=en |doi-access=free}}</ref> It is also closely related to the contemporaneous extinct genus ''[[Euceratherium]].''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bover |first1=Pere |last2=Llamas |first2=Bastien |last3=Thomson |first3=Vicki A. |last4=Pons |first4=Joan |last5=Cooper |first5=Alan |last6=Mitchell |first6=Kieren J. |date=December 2018 |title=Molecular resolution to a morphological controversy: The case of North American fossil muskoxen Bootherium and Symbos |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |language=en |volume=129 |pages=70–76 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2018.08.008 |pmid=30121342 |bibcode=2018MolPE.129...70B |s2cid=52041464}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Campos |first1=Paula F. |last2=Sher |first2=Andrei |last3=Mead |first3=Jim I. |last4=Tikhonov |first4=Alexei |last5=Buckley |first5=Michael |last6=Collins |first6=Matthew |last7=Willerslev |first7=Eske |last8=Gilbert |first8=M. Thomas P. |date=1 August 2010 |language=en |title=Clarification of the taxonomic relationship of the extant and extinct ovibovids, Ovibos, Praeovibos, Euceratherium and Bootherium |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379110001423 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=29 |issue=17 |pages=2123–2130 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.05.006 |bibcode=2010QSRv...29.2123C |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=25 January 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref>

== Description ==
Unlike today's [[Arctic]] and [[tundra]]-adapted muskoxen, with their long, shaggy coats, ''Bootherium'' was physically adapted to a range of less frigid [[Climate|climates]], and appears to have been the only species of muskox to have evolved in and remain restricted to the North American continent (the Arctic muskox's range is [[circumpolar distribution|circumpolar]], and includes the northern reaches of [[Eurasia]] as well as North America).<ref name="The Academy of Natural Sciences" /> ''Bootherium'' was significantly taller and leaner than muskoxen found today in Arctic regions. ''Bootherium'' were estimated to weigh around {{convert|423.5|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name="ArchivedReference">[https://archive.today/20121218002725/http://museumu03.museumwww.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=basicTaxonInfo&taxon_no=44580 Paleobiology Database: Bootherium bombifrons]</ref> Other differences were a thicker skull and considerably longer snout. The horns of ''Bootherium'' were situated high on the skull, with a downward curve and were fused along the midline of the skull, unlike tundra muskoxen whose horns are separated by a medial groove.

== Distribution ==
''Bootherium'' was one of the most widely distributed [[muskox]] species in North America during the [[Pleistocene]] epoch. Fossils have been documented from as far north as [[Alaska]]<ref name="AlaskanHelmetedMuskoxen">{{Cite journal |last=Guthrie |first=R. Dale |date=1991 |title=New paleoecological and paleoethological information on the extinct helmeted muskoxen from Alaska |language=en |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23735443 |journal=Annales Zoologici Fennici |volume=28 |issue=3/4 |pages=175–186 |issn=0003-455X |access-date=10 September 2024 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> to [[Alberta]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jass |first=Christopher N. |last2=Burns |first2=James A. |last3=Milot |first3=Peter J. |date=2 May 2011 |editor-last=Sues |editor-first=Hans-Dieter |title=Description of fossil muskoxen and relative abundance of Pleistocene megafauna in central Alberta |url=http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/e10-096 |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |language=en |volume=48 |issue=5 |pages=793–800 |doi=10.1139/e10-096 |issn=0008-4077 |access-date=30 September 2024 |via=Canadian Science Publishing}}</ref> [[Montana]],<ref name="MontananHelmetedMuskoxen">{{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Christopher L. |date=January 2006 |title=Stratigraphic and geochronologic contexts of mammoth (Mammuthus) and other Pleistocene fauna, Upper Missouri Basin (northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains), U.S.A. |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S104061820500056X |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |language=en |volume=142-143 |pages=87–106 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2005.03.007 |access-date=21 September 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> [[California]], [[Utah]],<ref name="UtahnHelmetedMuskoxen">{{cite journal |url=http://giw.utahgeology.org/giw/index.php/GIW/article/download/17/24/ |journal=Geology of the Intermountain West |volume=4 |title=SHORELINES AND VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF PLEISTOCENE LAKE BONNEVILLE, UTAH, IDAHO, AND NEVADA |first1=Mark |last1=Milligan |first2=H. Gregory |pages=181–214 |last2=McDonald |date=2017 |doi=10.31711/giw.v4.pp181-214 |access-date=July 23, 2024|doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Texas]],<ref name="RecentAndPleistoceneMammalianFaunaOfBrazosCountyTexas">{{Cite journal |last=Peterson |first=Randolph L. |date=May 1946 |title=Recent and Pleistocene Mammalian Fauna of Brazos County, Texas |language=en |url=https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article-lookup/doi/10.2307/1375233 |journal=[[Journal of Mammalogy]] |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=162 |doi=10.2307/1375233 |access-date=2 November 2024 |via=Oxford Academic}}</ref> [[Missouri]], [[Indiana]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Richards |first=R. L. |last2=McDonald |first2=J. N. |date=1 January 1991 |title=NEW RECORDS OF HARLAN'S MUSKOX (Bootherium bombifrons) AND AN ASSOCIATED FAUNA FROM THE LATE PLEISTOCENE OF INDIANA |url=https://journals.indianapolis.iu.edu/index.php/ias/article/view/8232 |journal=Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science |language=en |volume=99 |issue=2-4 |pages=211–228 |issn=2380-7717 |access-date=10 September 2024}}</ref> [[Ohio]],<ref name="BootheriumOhio">{{Cite journal |last=McDonald |first=H. Gregory |last2=Dyer |first2=David L. |last3=Shane |first3=Linda C. K. |last4=Haskell |first4=Brian J. |last5=Stafford, Jr. |first5=Thomas W. |date=18 October 2024 |title=The Woodland Muskox Bootherium bombifrons (Artiodactyla, Bovidae) from Hebron, Licking County, Ohio, USA and its Paleoecology in the Great Lakes Region |url=https://ohiojournalofscience.org/index.php/OJS/article/view/9583 |journal=The Ohio Journal of Science |language=en |volume=123 |issue=2 |pages=44–61 |doi=10.18061/ojs.v123i2.9583 |issn=2471-9390 |access-date=28 October 2024|doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Michigan]],<ref name="ProboscideanSitesMichigan">{{Cite journal |last=Abraczinskas |first=L. M. |title=Pleistocene proboscidean sites in Michigan: New records and an update on published sites. |journal=Michigan Academician |publisher=Utah Geological Association |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=443–490}}</ref> [[Oklahoma]], [[Virginia]], [[North Carolina]] and [[New Jersey]]. The species went into decline, and eventual extinction, approximately 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last [[ice age|Ice Age]].<ref name="The Academy of Natural Sciences" />

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book| last1 = McKenna| first1 = Malcolm C.| last2 = Bell| first2 = Susan K.| title = Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level| year = 1997| publisher = Columbia University Press| isbn = 978-0-231-11013-6 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bootherium}}
* http://nature.ca/notebooks/english/helmet.htm 
* https://web.archive.org/web/20080407140851/http://www.ansp.org/museum/jefferson/otherFossils/bootherium.php

{{Taxonbar|from1=Q38720035|from2=Q1603113}}

[[Category:Prehistoric bovids]]
[[Category:Prehistoric mammals of North America]]
[[Category:Pleistocene mammals of North America]]
[[Category:Pleistocene Artiodactyla]]
[[Category:Pleistocene species extinctions]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Joseph Leidy]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1852]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Richard Harlan]]
[[Category:Monotypic prehistoric Artiodactyla genera]]