Skull without anteorbital pits, but with large or small lachrymal vacuities, and usually with large pits on the frontal bones at the apertures of the supraorbital foramina.
Muzzle large and naked.
Mammæ 4.
Range of the Subfamily. Peninsular India and Africa south of the Sahara.
The genera of this subfamily may be tabulated as follows:—
- a. Hind limbs shorter than fore limbs, so that the withers stand higher than the hind-quarters. Head flatter behind the ears, the parietals and frontals lying almost in the same plane. Horns present in the male only, shorter than the face, not twisted 1. Boselaphus.
- b. Hind and fore limbs subequal in length, withers not appreciably higher than hind-quarters. Cranium more convex longitudinally. Horns longer than the face, spirally twisted.
- a1. Horns present only in the male, inserted just behind eye and rising so as to form an obtuse angle with the plane of the face.
- a2. Horns flat behind at the base, with a strong external basal ridge and rarely more than two complete turns.
- a3. Hoofs normal, short; back of the pasterns covered with hair. 2. Tragelaphus.
- b3. Hoofs exceedingly long; back of the pasterns naked. 3. Limnotragus.
- b2. Horns rounded behind at the base, without external basal ridge, forming an open corkscrew spiral, with three complete turns. 4. Strepsiceros.
- b1. Horns present in both sexes, inserted farther behind the eye and directed straight backwards in the plane of the face. 5. Taurotragus.
Genus I. BOSELAPHUS.
| Type. | |
| Boselaphus, Blainv. Bull. Soc. Philom. p. 75 (1816) | B. tragocamelus. |
| Portax, H. Smith, Griff. An. Kingdom, v. p. 366 (1827) | B. tragocamelus. |
| Tragelaphus, Ogilby, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138 | B. tragocamelus. |
Of large size and somewhat heavy build, with the withers considerably higher than the hind-quarters. Muzzle large and naked. Ears small. Tail reaching the hocks, tufted at the end, more or less fringed at the sides.
Skull very flat above, the parietals nearly in the same plane as the frontals; occipital ridge strong. Molars with long crowns; those of the upper jaw with accessory column.