Distribution and history of the Cape zebra (Equus capensis) in the Quarternary of Africa

Abstract

The extinct Cape zebra (Equus cupensis Broom) was first described from the Cape Town region of South Africa in 1909. Subsequent materials were reported from the hinterland of the Cape and into the Orange Free State, with records from Zimbabwe and Zambia, and 18 species were named. These were synonymised with the type binomial. Populations similar to the Cape zebra were described in East Africa as E. oldowayensis. Recently, specimens, also referable to the Cape zebra, have been recovered from Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, northwest Africa. The known temporal range of these Cape zebra populations is from Late Pliocene in East and South Africa and from Late Pleistocene in Egypt, to Middle Holocene in northeast and South Africa, and to Recent in northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and the northeast of southern Somalia where it is represented by the extant E. grevyi, Grevy's zebra. The occlusal patterns of the lower cheek teeth (P₃-M₂) of the South African type, and individuals from the Ethiopian Omo Member G and the Egyptian Dakhleh Oasis Holocene pan silts are shown to be sufficiently similar to be considered to be conspecific within a single population.