The Cebu tamaraw is a fossil dwarf buffalo discovered in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, and first described in 2006.

Anatomy and morphology

The most distinctive feature of B. cebuensis was its small size. Large contemporary domestic water buffalo stand six feet at the shoulder and can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, B. cebuensis would have stood only two-and-one-half feet and weighed about 350 pounds, smaller than another dwarf species B. mindorensis.

The fossil specimen is likely Pleistocene or Holocene in age.

Evolutionary history

The fossil was discovered in a horizontal tunnel in soft karst

KARST

Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...

 at approximately 50 m elevation in K-Hill near Balamban, Cebu Island

Cebu Island

Cebu is an island of the Philippines. It is the main island of Cebu Province at the center of the Visayan Islands, south of Manila.It lies to the east of Negros Island; to the east is Leyte and to the southeast is Bohol Island. It is flanked on both sides by the Cebu Strait and Tañon Strait...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 by mining engineer Michael Armas. The fossil was donated to America's Field Museum where it stayed un-analysed for almost 50 years.