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Revision as of 00:25, 12 January 2008
| Kenyapotamus Temporal range: Middle Miocene to Late Miocene | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Hippopotamidae |
| Subfamily: | Kenyapotaminae |
| Genus: | Kenyapotamus Pickford, 1983 |
| Species | |
|
K coryndoni and | |
Kenyapotamus ("(Dweller) in the River of Kenya") is an extinct ancestor of the modern Hippopotamus which lived in Africa roughly 16 million to 8 million years ago during the Miocene epoch. Its name is derived because its fossils were first found in modern-day Kenya.
Although little is known about the Kenyapotamus, its dental pattern bore similarities to that of the genus Xenohyus, a European Tayassuid from the Early Miocene. This led some scientists to conclude that Hippopotami were most closely related to modern peccaries and pigs.
Recent molecular research has suggested that Kenyapotamus and the entire Hippopotamidae family, along with the anatomically similar family Anthracotheriidae, may be more closely related to Cetaceans.
References
- Pickford, Martin (1983). "On the origins of Hippopotamidae together with descriptions of two new species, a new genus and a new subfamily from the Miocene of Kenya". Geobios. 16. Lyon: 193–217.
- Petronio, C. (1995): Note on the taxonomy of Pleistocene hippopotamuses. Ibex 3: 53-55. PDF fulltext
- Boisserie, Jean-Renaud (2005). "The position of Hippopotamidae within Cetartiodactyla". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 102 (5): 1537–1541. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
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