The phylogeny and taxonomy of Hippopotamidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla): a review based on morphology and cladistic analysis

By J. Boisserie. 2005

130 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The phylogeny and taxonomy of the whole family Hippopotamidae is in need of reconsideration, the present confusion obstructing palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography studies of these Neogene mammals. The revision of the Hippopotamidae initiated here deals with the last 8 Myr of African and Asian species. The first thorough cladistic analysis of the family is presented here. The outcome of this analysis, including 37 morphological characters coded for 15 extant and fossil taxa, as well as non-coded features of mandibular morphology, was used to reconstruct broad outlines of hippo phylogeny. Distinct lineages within the paraphyletic genus Hexaprotodon are recognized and characterized. In order to harmonize taxonomy and phylogeny, two new genera are created. The genus name Choeropsis is re-validated for the extant Liberian hippo. The nomen Hexaprotodon is restricted to the fossil lineage mostly known in Asia, but also including at least one African species. The genus Hippopotamus is confirmed. These changes represent substantial advances for understanding the evolutionary history of the Hippopotamidae, and provide a new framework for future studies. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005, 143, 1–26.

Subfields: Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Paleontology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/22c4e2cd8bcf3bc355b352a950f458c94bb2b144

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. Mark T. Clementz
2. P. Koch
3. W. Bond
4. S. Newsome
5. A. Stuart
6. A. Barnosky

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. W. Bond
2. P. Koch
3. Juli G. Pausas
4. Peter Vesk

In Paleontology

1. Mark T. Clementz
2. P. Koch
3. P. Holroyd
4. A. Stuart
5. A. Barnosky

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• Identifying Aquatic Habits Of Herbivorous Mammals Through Stable Isotope Analysis (2008, background): “Hippopotamids have a relatively short fossil record (middle Miocene–recent), but latest phylogenetic analyses nest this group within the anthracotheres—an extinct group of artiodactyls—which have a fossil record dating back to the late middle Eocene (Boisserie, 2005; Boisserie et al., 2005a) and whi”