Climacoceratidae is a family of superficially deer-like artiodactyl ungulates which lived in the Miocene epoch in Africa. They are close to the ancestry of giraffes, with some genera, such as Prolibytherium, originally classified as giraffes.
| Climacoceratidae Temporal range:
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| Climacoceras africanus (left foreground), and C. gentryi (right foreground), with Palaeotragus primeavus (left background), and P. germaini (right background) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Superfamily: | Giraffoidea |
| Family: | †Climacoceratidae Hamilton, 1978 |
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The climacoceratids, namely members of what is now the type genus Climacoceras, were originally placed within the family Palaeomerycidae, and then within Giraffidae. In 1978, W. R. Hamilton erected a new family, placing it close to Giraffidae within the superfamily Giraffoidea.
They differ from giraffes in that their antler-like ossicones are derived from different bones.
References
edit- MacInnes, D. G. 1936, "A new genus of fossil deer from the Miocene of Africa", Journal of the Linnean Society, Zoology 39: 521–530.
- Hamilton, W. R., 1978, "Cervidae and Palaeomerycidae", 495–508, in Maglio, V. J. & Cooke, H. B. S., (eds.) "Evolution of African mammals", Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England, 1978, xiv-641
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