Hippopotamids from the Djurab Pliocene faunas, Chad, Central Africa

✍ Scribed by Jean-Renaud Boisserie; Michel Brunet; Likius Andossa; Patrick Vignaud

• Book ID: 104354147
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 554 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1464-343X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0899-5362(03)00021-6

✦ Synopsis

In the Djurab Desert (Chad), the fossiliferous sectors of Kossom Bougoudi, Koll e e and Koro Toro have yielded a great amount of fossil hippo remains aged between ca. 5 and 3 Ma. Hippos from the first two areas represent a distinct lineage evolving in Chad during the early Pliocene. Indeed, a new species from Koll e e is described (Hexaprotodon mingoz sp. nov.) and the Kossom Bougoudi fossils may constitute its ancestral stem. At Koro Toro, a different but very rare form occurs, and its affinities remain unclear. These hippopotamids testify to a more complex family history than previously recognized, and reinforce the idea of using this group for biochronology. The hippos underscore relative endemism of the Chadian fossil faunas and would indicate a greater and earlier aridity of this region in contrast to East Africa.