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Le plus ancien hippopotame fossile (Hippopotamus laloumena) de Madagascar (Belobaka, Province de Mahajanga)

Martine FAURE, Claude GUÉRIN, Dominique GENTY, Dominique GOMMERY & Beby RAMANIVOSOA

fr Comptes Rendus Palevol 9 (4) - Pages 155-162

Published on 30 June 2010

The oldest fossil hippopotamus (Hippopotamus laloumena) of Madagascar (Belobaka, Mahajanga Province)

The Upper Pleistocene site Belobaka XVII (about 20,000 years) has yielded some Hippopotami remains included in a very hard breccia. Among this material two lower premolars, a juvenile calcaneus, two juvenile metatarsals and a first abaxial phalange have been cleaned and can be studied. They belong to Hippopotamus laloumena Faure and Guérin, 1990 , allowed us to know for the first time the P/2 and P/3 of that species and confirm its validity. Belobaka is then the third Malagasyan site where H. laloumena has been found, and the first which yielded Pleistocene hippopotami remains.


Keywords:

Mammalia, Artiodactyla, Hippopotamidae, Upper Pleistocene, Madagascar

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