for just the lesser kudu by American zoologist Edmund Heller, the type species being A. strepsiceros. The lesser kudu is now typically placed in Tragelaphus. However, a 2011 publication by Colin Groves and Peter Grubb argues for the lesser kudu's renewed placement in the genus Ammelaphus on the grounds that this species is part of the earliest-diverging lineage of its tribe, having split from the main lineage before it separated into Tragelaphus and Taurotragus. In 2005, Sandi Willows-Munro (of the University of KwaZulu-Natal) and colleagues carried out a mitochondrial analysis of the nine Tragelaphus species. mtDNA and nDNA data were compared. The results showed that the tribe Tragelaphini is monophyletic with the lesser kudu basal in the phylogeny, followed by the nyala (T. angasii). On the basis of mitochondrial data, the lesser kudu separated from its sister clade around 13.7 million years ago. However, the nuclear data show that lesser kudu and nyala form a clade, and collectively separated from the sister clade 13.8 million years ago. The lesser kudu has 38 diploid chromosomes. However, unlike others in the subfamily Tragelaphinae, the X chromosome and Y chromosome are compound and each is fused with one of two identical autosomes. Physical description The lesser kudu is a spiral-horned antelope. The head-and-body length is typically between . Males reach about at the shoulder, while females reach . Males typically weigh and females . The bushy tail is long, white underneath and with a black tip at the end. Distinct signs of sexual dimorphism are seen in the antelope. The male is considerably larger than the female. The females, as well as juveniles, have a rufous coat, whereas the males become yellowish grey or darker after the age of 2 years. The male has a prominent black crest of hair on the neck, but this feature is not well-developed in the female. One long white stripe runs along the back, with 11–14 white stripes branching towards the sides. The chest has a central black stripe, and no throat beard is present. A black stripe runs from each eye to the nose and a white one from each eye to the centre of the dark face. A chevron is present between the eyes. The area around the lips is white, the throat has white patches, and two white spots appear on each side of the lower jaw. The underparts are completely white, while the