Propoecilogale

The first specimen of ''Propoecilogale'' to be discovered was found in the cave deposits of Bolt's Farm, South Africa, specifically from a locality referred to as Pit 10 or the Grey Bird Pit.<ref name="Cooke-1985" /> The deposits of this pit have not been dated specifically, but the presence of teeth from the monkey ''[[Theropithecus oswaldi]]'' suggests they were likely formed about 1.3 million years ago during the [[Calabrian (stage)|Calabrian]] stage of the [[Pleistocene]] epoch, with a possible age range of 1.9 to 0.7 million years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Frost |first1=Stephen R. |last2=White |first2=Frances J. |last3=Reda |first3=Hailay G. |last4=Gilbert |first4=Christopher C. |date=2022-11-08 |title=Biochronology of South African hominin-bearing sites: A reassessment using cercopithecid primates |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=119 |issue=45 |pages=e2210627119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2210627119 |doi-access=free |pmc=9659350 |pmid=36279427|bibcode=2022PNAS..11910627F }}</ref> A 2025 study gives an older estimate for the age of the Bolt's Farm specimen, claiming it dates back about 2.6 million years to the [[Piacenzian]] stage of the [[Pliocene]] epoch, which could make it the oldest known ''Propoecilogale'' specimen.<ref name=":0" />

The first specimen of ''Propoecilogale'' to be discovered was found in the cave deposits of Bolt's Farm, South Africa, specifically from a locality referred to as Pit 10 or the Grey Bird Pit.<ref name="Cooke-1985" /> The deposits of this pit have not been dated specifically, but the presence of teeth from the monkey ''[[Theropithecus oswaldi]]'' suggests they were likely formed about 1.3 million years ago during the [[Calabrian (stage)|Calabrian]] stage of the [[Pleistocene]] epoch, with a possible age range of 1.9 to 0.7 million years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Frost |first1=Stephen R. |last2=White |first2=Frances J. |last3=Reda |first3=Hailay G. |last4=Gilbert |first4=Christopher C. |date=2022-11-08 |title=Biochronology of South African hominin-bearing sites: A reassessment using cercopithecid primates |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=119 |issue=45 |pages=e2210627119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2210627119 |doi-access=free |pmc=9659350 |pmid=36279427|bibcode=2022PNAS..11910627F }}</ref> A 2025 study gives an older estimate for the age of the Bolt's Farm specimen, claiming it dates back about 2.6 million years to the [[Piacenzian]] stage of the [[Pliocene]] epoch, which could make it the oldest known ''Propoecilogale'' specimen.<ref name=":0" />

Additional fossils of ''P. bolti'' have been found in the Kromdraai fossil site.<ref name="Fourvel-2017" /> The remains were specifically reported to be from Member 2 of Kromdraai, though the stratigraphy of this site was revised in 2022, when the fossil-bearing units of the site were assigned letters, with Member 2 being renamed as "Unit P".<ref name="Fourvel-2018">{{Cite journal |last1=Fourvel |first1=Jean-Baptiste |last2=Thackeray |first2=John Francis |last3=Brink |first3=James S. |last4=O’Regan |first4=Hannah |last5=Braga |first5=José |date=2018 |title=Taphonomic interpretations of a new Plio-Pleistocene hominin-bearing assemblage at Kromdraai (Gauteng, South Africa) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379117307072 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=190 |pages=81–97 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.04.018|bibcode=2018QSRv..190...81F |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Braga-2022">{{Cite journal |last1=Braga |first1=José |last2=Thackeray |first2=John Francis |last3=Zipfel |first3=Bernhard |date=2022 |title=The Kromdraai early hominin-bearing site. A review of recent findings |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0003552122000644 |journal=L'Anthropologie |language=en |volume=126 |issue=4 |pages=103054 |doi=10.1016/j.anthro.2022.103054|doi-access=free }}</ref> Though the exact age of Unit P has not been determined, it is believed to be about 2 million years old, with a 2024 study on its bovid fossils suggesting an age between 2.9 and 1.8 million years, covering the Piacenzian and [[Gelasian]] stages of the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs respectively.<ref name="Braga-2022" /><ref name="Hanon-2024">{{Cite journal |last1=Hanon |first1=Raphaël |last2=Fourvel |first2=Jean-Baptiste |last3=Sambo |first3=Recognise |last4=Maringa |first4=Nompumelelo |last5=Steininger |first5=Christine |last6=Zipfel |first6=Bernhard |last7=Braga |first7=José |date=2024-05-01 |title=New fossil Bovidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from Kromdraai Unit P, South Africa and their implication for biochronology and hominin palaeoecology |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379124001227 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=331 |pages=108621 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108621 |bibcode=2024QSRv..33108621H |issn=0277-3791|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Analysis of the fossil content suggests that the Unit P fauna inhabited a mostly open, semi-arid grassland environment, as indicated by the abundance of grassland species such as francolins, [[buttonquail]]s, and savanna-dwelling bovids.<ref name="Hanon-2024" /><ref name="Pavia-2020">{{Cite journal |last=Pavia |first=Marco |date=2020 |title=Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Cradle of Humankind during the Plio-Pleistocene transition, inferred from the analysis of fossil birds from Member 2 of the hominin-bearing site of Kromdraai (Gauteng, South Africa) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379120304947 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=248 |pages=106532 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106532|bibcode=2020QSRv..24806532P |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Unlike Ahl al Oughlam however, the Kromdraai environment would have had a gallery forest around a large permanent stream or river, based on the presence of forest-dwelling birds (such as a [[green pigeon]], [[black sparrowhawk]] and the owl ''[[Glaucidium ireneae]]'') and aquatic animals (such as the [[African clawless otter]] and ducks of the genus ''[[Anas]]'').<ref name="Fourvel-2018" /><ref name="Pavia-2020" /> The most abundant bird in the Unit P fossil assemblage is the bald ibis ''[[Geronticus thackerayi]]'', which would have nested on large rocky [[outcrop]]s and cliffs, and the presence of juvenile remains indicates that such a structure over {{cvt|10|m}} high was present.<ref name="Pavia-2020" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pavia |first=Marco |date=2019-05-04 |title=''Geronticus thackerayi'', sp. nov. (Aves, Threskiornithidae), a new ibis from the hominin-bearing locality of Kromdraai (Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng, South Africa) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335584851 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=e1647433 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2019.1647433 |bibcode=2019JVPal..39E7433P |issn=0272-4634}}</ref>

Additional fossils of ''P. bolti'' have been found in the Kromdraai fossil site.<ref name="Fourvel-2017" /> The remains were specifically reported to be from Member 2 of Kromdraai, though the stratigraphy of this site was revised in 2022, when the fossil-bearing units of the site were assigned letters, with Member 2 being renamed as "Unit P".<ref name="Fourvel-2018">{{Cite journal |last1=Fourvel |first1=Jean-Baptiste |last2=Thackeray |first2=John Francis |last3=Brink |first3=James S. |last4=O’Regan |first4=Hannah |last5=Braga |first5=José |date=2018 |title=Taphonomic interpretations of a new Plio-Pleistocene hominin-bearing assemblage at Kromdraai (Gauteng, South Africa) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379117307072 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=190 |pages=81–97 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.04.018|bibcode=2018QSRv..190...81F |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Braga-2022">{{Cite journal |last1=Braga |first1=José |last2=Thackeray |first2=John Francis |last3=Zipfel |first3=Bernhard |date=2022 |title=The Kromdraai early hominin-bearing site. A review of recent findings |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0003552122000644 |journal=L'Anthropologie |language=en |volume=126 |issue=4 |pages=103054 |doi=10.1016/j.anthro.2022.103054|doi-access=free }}</ref> Though the exact age of Unit P has not been determined, it is believed to be about 2 million years old, with a 2024 study on its bovid fossils suggesting an age between 2.9 and 1.8 million years, covering the Piacenzian and [[Gelasian]] stages of the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs respectively.<ref name="Braga-2022" /><ref name="Hanon-2024">{{Cite journal |last1=Hanon |first1=Raphaël |last2=Fourvel |first2=Jean-Baptiste |last3=Sambo |first3=Recognise |last4=Maringa |first4=Nompumelelo |last5=Steininger |first5=Christine |last6=Zipfel |first6=Bernhard |last7=Braga |first7=José |date=2024-05-01 |title=New fossil Bovidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from Kromdraai Unit P, South Africa and their implication for biochronology and hominin palaeoecology |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379124001227 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=331 |pages=108621 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108621 |bibcode=2024QSRv..33108621H |issn=0277-3791|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Analysis of the fossil content suggests that the Unit P fauna inhabited a mostly open, semi-arid grassland environment, as indicated by the abundance of grassland species such as francolins, [[buttonquail]]s, and savanna-dwelling [[bovids]].<ref name="Hanon-2024" /><ref name="Pavia-2020">{{Cite journal |last=Pavia |first=Marco |date=2020 |title=Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Cradle of Humankind during the Plio-Pleistocene transition, inferred from the analysis of fossil birds from Member 2 of the hominin-bearing site of Kromdraai (Gauteng, South Africa) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379120304947 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=248 |pages=106532 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106532|bibcode=2020QSRv..24806532P |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In addition, this environment would have had a gallery forest around a large permanent stream or river, based on the presence of forest-dwelling birds (such as a [[green pigeon]], [[black sparrowhawk]] and the owl ''[[Glaucidium ireneae]]'') and aquatic animals (such as the [[African clawless otter]] and ducks of the genus ''[[Anas]]'').<ref name="Fourvel-2018" /><ref name="Pavia-2020" /> The most abundant bird in the Unit P fossil assemblage is the bald ibis ''[[Geronticus thackerayi]]'', which would have nested on large rocky [[outcrop]]s and cliffs, and the presence of juvenile remains indicates that such a structure over {{cvt|10|m}} high was present.<ref name="Pavia-2020" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pavia |first=Marco |date=2019-05-04 |title=''Geronticus thackerayi'', sp. nov. (Aves, Threskiornithidae), a new ibis from the hominin-bearing locality of Kromdraai (Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng, South Africa) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335584851 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=e1647433 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2019.1647433 |bibcode=2019JVPal..39E7433P |issn=0272-4634}}</ref>

Another specimen attributed to this genus is known from the nearby Cooper's Cave, a large cave system comprising multiple distinct localities, with this specimen originating from the locality known as Cooper's D.<ref name="O'Regan-2013" /> In 2009, a study using [[uranium-lead dating]] suggested that the Cooper's D deposits are about 1.5 to 1.4 million years old, dating to the Calabrian stage, with a more refined age estimate of 1.38 million years being proposed by a more recent paper in 2019.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=de Ruiter |first1=Darryl J. |last2=Pickering |first2=Robyn |last3=Steininger |first3=Christine M. |last4=Kramers |first4=Jan D. |last5=Hancox |first5=Phillip J. |last6=Churchill |first6=Steven E. |last7=Berger |first7=Lee R. |last8=Backwell |first8=Lucinda |date=2009 |title=New ''Australopithecus robustus'' fossils and associated U-Pb dates from Cooper's Cave (Gauteng, South Africa) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S004724840900027X |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |language=en |volume=56 |issue=5 |pages=497–513 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.01.009|pmid=19443017 |bibcode=2009JHumE..56..497D |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pickering |first1=Robyn |last2=Herries |first2=Andy I. R. |last3=Woodhead |first3=Jon D. |last4=Hellstrom |first4=John C. |last5=Green |first5=Helen E. |last6=Paul |first6=Bence |last7=Ritzman |first7=Terrence |last8=Strait |first8=David S. |last9=Schoville |first9=Benjamin J. |last10=Hancox |first10=Phillip J. |date=2019-01-10 |title=U–Pb-dated flowstones restrict South African early hominin record to dry climate phases |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0711-0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=565 |issue=7738 |pages=226–229 |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0711-0 |pmid=30464348 |bibcode=2019Natur.565..226P |issn=0028-0836|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The fossil assemblage of Cooper's D indicates an environment similar to that of Kromdraai, dominated by open grassland while rocky outcrops and woodland were also present in the area. However, the absence of fossils representing water-dwelling birds at Cooper's D and greater abundance of open grassland birds compared to Kromdraai suggests that the environment of the Cradle of Humankind was drier during the Calabrian stage than it was in the Piacenzian and Gelasian stages.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pavia |first1=Marco |last2=Val |first2=Aurore |last3=Carrera |first3=Lisa |last4=Steininger |first4=Christine M. |date=2022 |title=Fossil birds from Cooper's D aid in reconstructing the Early Pleistocene paleoenvironment in the Cradle of Humankind (Gauteng, South Africa) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0047248422000458 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |language=en |volume=167 |pages=103185 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103185|pmid=35489251 |bibcode=2022JHumE.16703185P |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Another specimen attributed to this genus is known from the nearby Cooper's Cave, a large cave system comprising multiple distinct localities, with this specimen originating from the locality known as Cooper's D.<ref name="O'Regan-2013" /> In 2009, a study using [[uranium-lead dating]] suggested that the Cooper's D deposits are about 1.5 to 1.4 million years old, dating to the Calabrian stage, with a more refined age estimate of 1.38 million years being proposed by a more recent paper in 2019.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=de Ruiter |first1=Darryl J. |last2=Pickering |first2=Robyn |last3=Steininger |first3=Christine M. |last4=Kramers |first4=Jan D. |last5=Hancox |first5=Phillip J. |last6=Churchill |first6=Steven E. |last7=Berger |first7=Lee R. |last8=Backwell |first8=Lucinda |date=2009 |title=New ''Australopithecus robustus'' fossils and associated U-Pb dates from Cooper's Cave (Gauteng, South Africa) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S004724840900027X |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |language=en |volume=56 |issue=5 |pages=497–513 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.01.009|pmid=19443017 |bibcode=2009JHumE..56..497D |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pickering |first1=Robyn |last2=Herries |first2=Andy I. R. |last3=Woodhead |first3=Jon D. |last4=Hellstrom |first4=John C. |last5=Green |first5=Helen E. |last6=Paul |first6=Bence |last7=Ritzman |first7=Terrence |last8=Strait |first8=David S. |last9=Schoville |first9=Benjamin J. |last10=Hancox |first10=Phillip J. |date=2019-01-10 |title=U–Pb-dated flowstones restrict South African early hominin record to dry climate phases |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0711-0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=565 |issue=7738 |pages=226–229 |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0711-0 |pmid=30464348 |bibcode=2019Natur.565..226P |issn=0028-0836|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The fossil assemblage of Cooper's D indicates an environment similar to that of Kromdraai, dominated by open grassland while rocky outcrops and woodland were also present in the area. However, the absence of fossils representing water-dwelling birds at Cooper's D and greater abundance of open grassland birds compared to Kromdraai suggests that the environment of the Cradle of Humankind was drier during the Calabrian stage than it was in the Piacenzian and Gelasian stages.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pavia |first1=Marco |last2=Val |first2=Aurore |last3=Carrera |first3=Lisa |last4=Steininger |first4=Christine M. |date=2022 |title=Fossil birds from Cooper's D aid in reconstructing the Early Pleistocene paleoenvironment in the Cradle of Humankind (Gauteng, South Africa) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0047248422000458 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |language=en |volume=167 |pages=103185 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103185|pmid=35489251 |bibcode=2022JHumE.16703185P |doi-access=free }}</ref>