Black Duiker

Open encyclopedia reference

The black duiker (Cephalophus niger), also known as tuba in Dyula, is a forest-dwelling duiker found in the southern parts of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria. Black duikers stand around 500 mm (20 in) tall at the shoulder and weigh 15 to 20 kg (33 to 44 lb). They have, not surprisingly, black coats. The head is a rust colour with a large red crest between the ears. Black duikers have long, thin horns of 80 to 170 mm (3.1 to 6.7 in), but the horns of females reach only 30 mm (1.2 in). Black duikers live mainly in lowland rainforest, where they eat fruit, flowers, and leaves which have fallen from the canopy. They are probably diurnal, though this is surmised only from captive specimens. Black duiker are reported to be solitary, territorial animals. The mating season of the black duikers is year round, but more offspring are born from November to January. The gestation period lasts 126 days, and is thus comparably short, usually only one young is born.

Wikipedia contributors, Black duiker; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:19:35.108641+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Cephalophus niger Gray, 1846

Name authority

Gray, 1846

Common name

Black Duiker

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Artiodactyla

Family

Bovidae

Genus

Cephalophus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderArtiodactyla Owen, 1848
12. familyBovidae Gray, 1821
13. subfamilyAntilopinae Gray, 1821
14. tribeCephalophini Blyth, 1863
15. genusCephalophus C. H. Smith, 1827
16. speciesCephalophus niger Gray, 1846

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Cephalophus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 166 records assigned to Bovidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=183850 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:SDRN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.