Mitilanotherium

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}} {{Automatic Taxobox | image = Mitilanotherium.svg | image_caption = An outline of ''Mitilanotherium'' | fossil_range = Pliocene to Pleistocene | taxon = Mitilanotherium | authority = | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = '''''M. inexpectatum''''' }}

'''''Mitilanotherium''''' is an extinct genus of giraffes from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Europe.

[[File:Mitilanotherium 2.jpg|left|thumb|The mandible (the lower jaw bone) of ''Mililanotherium'' sp.]] It was a medium-sized giraffid, resembling the modern okapi, with two long ossicones directly above its eyes, and relatively long and slender limbs. Fossils have been found in Greece, Romania, Ukraine, and Spain.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lyras |first=George |author2=VandeGeer, A.A.E. |date=2007 |title=The Late Pliocene vertebrate fauna of Vatera (Lesvos Island, Greece) |url=http://users.uoa.gr/~glyras/projects/Vatera-Pliocene.pdf |journal=Cranium |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=11–24 |accessdate=7 February 2009}}</ref>

== Taxonomy == Some studies have suggested that ''Mitilanotherium'' is a junior synonym of ''Palaeotragus''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Athanassiou |first1=Athanassios |date=2014 |title=New girafid (Artiodactyla) material from the Lower Pleistocene locality of Sésklo (SE Thessaly, Greece): evidence for an extension of the genus Palaeotragus into the Pleistocene |url=https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/22388 |journal=Zitteliana |volume=32 |pages=71-89 |doi=10.5282/UBM/EPUB.22388 |access-date=12 October 2025 |via=Open Access LMU}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} * Classification of Mammals by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell

Category:Prehistoric Giraffidae Category:Monotypic prehistoric Artiodactyla genera Category:Extinct mammals of Europe Category:Pliocene Artiodactyla