Hexaprotodon


Hexaprotodon is a genus of Hippopotamidae that is sometimes applied to the pygmy hippopotamus. Pygmy hippos may be classified as either Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis. The name Hexaprotodon means "six front teeth" as some of the fossil forms have three pairs of incisors. The genus sensu lato, including African taxa, has been suggested to be paraphyletic with respect to both species of living hippopotamus. The uncontroversial, core Asian members of the genus most closely related to the type S. sivalensis were widespread throughout the Late Neogene and Quaternary of South and Southeast Asia, with the oldest records coming from the Late Miocene Siwaliks. They were extinct by the Late Middle Pleistocene in Southeast Asia, but survived in India until the terminal Pleistocene, with the latest dates being around 16,467–15,660 cal BP.

Species

The genus Hexaprotodon also includes a number of rarely studied extinct species from Asia.