Hippopotamidae is a family of stout, naked-skinned, and semiaquatic artiodactyl mammals, possessing three-chambered stomachs and walking on four toes on each foot. While they resemble pigs physiologically, their closest living relatives are the cetaceans. They are sometimes referred to as hippopotamids.
Anthracotherium is an extinct genus of artiodactyls characterized by having 44 teeth, with five semi-crescentic cusps on the crowns of the upper molars. The genus ranged from the middle Eocene period until the early Miocene, having a distribution throughout Eurasia. Material subjectively assigned to Anthracotherium from Pakistan suggests the last species died out soon after the start of the Miocene.
Libycosaurus was one of the last anthracothere genera. It lived from the Middle to the Late Miocene, and ranged throughout Central and Northern Africa, and in Uganda, in what was then a lush, marshy environment.
Anthracotheriidae is a paraphyletic family of extinct, hippopotamus-like artiodactyl ungulates related to hippopotamuses and whales. The oldest genus, Elomeryx, first appeared during the middle Eocene in Asia. They thrived in Africa and Eurasia, with a few species ultimately entering North America during the Oligocene. They died out in Europe and Africa during the Miocene, possibly due to a combination of climatic changes and competition with other artiodactyls, including pigs and true hippopotamuses. The youngest genus, Merycopotamus, died out in Asia during the late Pliocene, possibly for the same reasons. The family is named after the first genus discovered, Anthracotherium, which means "coal beast", as the first fossils of it were found in Paleogene-aged coal beds in France. Fossil remains of the anthracothere genus were discovered by the Harvard University and Geological Survey of Pakistan joint research project (Y-GSP) in the well-dated middle and late Miocene deposits of the Pothohar Plateau in northern Pakistan.
Kenyapotamus is a possible ancestor of living hippopotamuses that lived roughly 16 million to 8 million years ago during the Miocene epoch. Its name reflects that its fossils were first found in modern-day Kenya.
Anthracothema was a genus of extinct artiodactyl ungulate mammals that lived in Myanmar during the late Eocene.
Anthracokeryx is a genus of extinct artiodactyl ungulate mammal belonging to Anthracotheriidae that lived in Asia during the middle to late Eocene.
Prolagus is an extinct genus of lagomorph. Over 20 species have been named, and the genus was abundant and widespread in Europe during the Neogene. However, by the end of the Middle Pleistocene, it was confined to a single species, the Sardinian pika, on the Corsica, Sardinia, and surrounding islands, where it survived into historical times. In North Africa and Western Asia, the genus is known from the Miocene and Pliocene. The scientific name may mean "before hares" or "primitive hares". Its taxonomy is disputed, with it either being considered a member of the family Ochotonidae, which includes living pikas, or the only member of the family Prolagidae.
The Jebel Qatrani Formation is a geologic formation located in the Faiyum Governorate of central Egypt. It is exposed between the Jebel Qatrani escarpment and the Qasr el Sagha escarpment, north of Birket Qarun lake near Faiyum. The formation conformably overlies the Qasr el Sagha Formation and is topped by the Widan el Faras Basalt. The age of the formation has been subject to debate, but the most recent research indicates that it covers both the latest parts of the Eocene and the Early Oligocene, spanning over the boundary between these two time periods.
Afrasia djijidae is a fossil primate that lived in Myanmar approximately 37 million years ago, during the late middle Eocene. The only species in the genus Afrasia, it was a small primate, estimated to weigh around 100 grams (3.5 oz). Despite the significant geographic distance between them, Afrasia is thought to be closely related to Afrotarsius, an enigmatic fossil found in Libya and Egypt that dates to 38–39 million years ago. If this relationship is correct, it suggests that early simians dispersed from Asia to Africa during the middle Eocene and would add further support to the hypothesis that the first simians evolved in Asia, not Africa. Neither Afrasia nor Afrotarsius, which together form the family Afrotarsiidae, is considered ancestral to living simians, but they are part of a side branch or stem group known as eosimiiforms. Because they did not give rise to the stem simians that are known from the same deposits in Africa, early Asian simians are thought to have dispersed from Asia to Africa more than once prior to the late middle Eocene. Such dispersals from Asia to Africa also were seen around the same time in other mammalian groups, including hystricognathous rodents and anthracotheres.
This paleomammalogy list records new fossil mammal taxa that were described during the year 2012, as well as notes other significant paleomammalogy discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
This paleomammalogy list records new fossil mammal taxa that were described during the year 2013, as well as notes other significant paleomammalogy discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
Microbunodon was a genus of extinct artiodactyl mammals in the family Anthracotheriidae. It lived between the upper Eocene and the lower Pliocene. Its fossil remains have been found in Europe and Asia.
This paleomammalogy list records new fossil mammal taxa that were described during the year 2015, as well as notes other significant paleomammalogy discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
The Ngorora Formation is a geological formation in Kenya preserving fossils dating to the Miocene. The uppermost member of the formation shows sign of a faunal turnover that occurred around 11 to 10.5 million years ago, coinciding with faunal changes elsewhere in the world. This turnover includes the arrival of the horse Hipparion in East Africa. The Ngorora Formation was initially mapped by G.R. Chapman in collaboration with the East African Geological Research Unit (EAGRU) and formally described by Bishop & Chapman in 1970. Major fossil finds were made in the early 1970s, with expeditions to the area recovering thousands of mammal, fish and mollusc remains alongside less common fossil material of birds and reptiles.
Dissopsalini is an extinct tribe of teratodontid hyaenodonts. Fossil remains of these mammals are known from early to late Miocene deposits in Asia and Africa.
The bothriodontines are a paraphyletic assemblage of anthracotheres that originated from Eurasia in the late middle Eocene (Bartonian). The group can be distinguished from other anthracothere lineages by their upper molars having a mesostyle occupied by a transverse valley, selenodont cusps, a ventrally concave symphysis, elongated muzzles, and a diastema between the canine and first premolar tooth. During their evolution, the bothriodontines evolved from small basal forms such as Qatraniodon into larger taxa such as Libycosaurus and Merycopotamus. In some genera, the snouts became even more elongated and teeth specialized in a folivorous diet, while others like Merycopotamus developed wide, heavy, and shallow muzzles with teeth more adapted for grazing.
The microbunodontines were an extinct subfamily of anthracotheres that were predominately a Paleogene group of Eurasian artiodactyls. The group died out at the end of the Late Miocene. It comprised the genera Anthracokeryx, Geniokeryx, Microbunodon, and possibly Etruscotherium. They are different from the other anthracothere lineages by their smaller size, slenderer limbs and male specimens having laterally compressed, longer canines. They were originally classified as members of the other subfamily of anthracotheres, Anthracotheriinae but recent phylogenetic studies have found them to be their own clade which is sister to Bothriodontinae.
The anthracotheriines are an extinct subfamily of anthracotheres that comprised Paleogene to early Neogene North American and Eurasian artiodactyls. The group contained the genera Anthracotherium, Heptacodon, and Paenanthracotherium, as well as possibly Myaingtherium and Siamotherium. They were small to large sized anthracotheres, and when compared to the other two subfamilies, Microbunodontinae and Bothriodontinae, anthracotheriines are found to occupy a primitive, basal position in the family.
Ancodonta is an infraorder of artiodactyl ungulates including modern hippopotamus and all mammals closer to hippos than to cetaceans (whales). Ancodonts first appeared in the Middle Eocene, with some of the earliest representatives found in fossil deposits in Southeast Asia. Throughout their evolutionary history they have occupied different browsing and grazing niches in North America, Eurasia and Africa. The last continent is notable as they were among the first laurasiatherian mammals to have migrated to Africa from Europe, where they competed with the native afrothere herbivores for the same niches. Of the nearly 50 genera that have existed, only two of them are extant – Choeropsis and Hippopotamus. The interrelationships within the ancodonts has been contended. The traditional notion is that there at minimum two families Anthracotheriidae and Hippopotamidae and were merely sister taxa. However many detailed research of the dentition among ancodonts, as well as how some anthracotheres were similar to hippos in appearance, lead the current consensus where Anthracotheriidae is paraphyletic to Hippopotamidae. Among the anthracotheres, members of Bothriodontinae are among the closest to the ancestry of hippos, with the Oligocene aged Epirigenys from Lokon, Turkana, Kenya being the sister taxon to hippos. In response of this many similar clade names have been used for this clade.
