| Description | - This is the article on the family Hippopotamidae; for the main article on hippos, see Hippopotamus
Hippopotamuses are stout, naked-skinned, and amphibious 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. Hippopotamuses are the only living members of the family Hippopotamidae.
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| Source Data | |
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| Rank | family |
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| Taxonomy (GBIF) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Artiodactyla : Hippopotamidae |
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| Taxonomy (PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Artiodactyla : Hippopotamidae |
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| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted |
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Classification
(PBDB,GBIF) | |
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| Common Name | hippopotamus |
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| Scientific Name | Hippopotamidae |
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| Name Published In | London Med. Repos. vol.15 p.306 |
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| Opinions (PBDB) | | Name | Rank | Opinion | Evidence | Author |
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| Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Tesserachenae | stated without evidence | Gray, 1821 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Belluae | stated without evidence | Bonaparte, 1850 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Suina | stated without evidence | Flower, 1883 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Artiodactyla | stated without evidence | Cope, 1889 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Suina | stated without evidence | Flower and Lydekker, 1891 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Nonruminantia | stated without evidence | Gregory, 1910 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Suiformes | stated without evidence | Jaekel, 1911 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Artiodactyla | stated without evidence | Coryndon, 1977 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Hippopotamoidea | implied | Carroll, 1988 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Artiodactyla | stated without evidence | Stuenes, 1989 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Artiodactyla | implied | Nowak, 1991 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Ancodonta | stated with evidence | Montgelard et al., 1997 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Suoidea | stated without evidence | McKenna and Bell, 1997 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Whippomorpha | stated without evidence | Waddell et al., 1999 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Artiodactyla | implied | Weston, 2000 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Cetruminantia | stated without evidence | Ursing et al., 2000 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Artiodactyla | stated without evidence | Thewissen et al., 2001 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Artiodactyla | implied | Boisserie et al., 2003 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Hippopotamoidea | stated without evidence | Boisserie et al., 2003 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Cetancodonta | stated without evidence | Arnason et al., 2004 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Anthracotheriodea | stated with evidence | Boisserie et al., 2005 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Artiodactyla | implied | Boisserie, 2005 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Cetancodonta | stated with evidence | Agnarsson and May-Collado, 2008 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Hippopotamidamorpha | stated without evidence | Spaulding et al., 2009 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Hippopotamoidea | stated with evidence | Boisserie et al., 2010 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Hippopotamoidea | stated without evidence | Weston and Boisserie, 2010 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Whippomorpha | stated without evidence | Asher and Helgen, 2010 | | Hippopotamidae | family | belongs to Hippopotamoidea | stated without evidence | Boisserie et al., 2011 |
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| Status (PBDB) | extant |
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| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 61 |
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| Extant Size (PBDB) | 7 (11%) |
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| First Recorded Appearance | 23.0 - 20.0 Ma
Miocene |
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| Environment | terrestrial (based on Artiodactyla) |
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| Motility | actively mobile (based on Osteichthyes) |
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| Diet | grazer, browser |
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| Ecospace Comments | life habit and diet based on Nowak 1999 |
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| Taphonomy | phosphatic (based on Vertebrata) |
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| Primary Reference (PBDB) | J. E. Gray. 1821. On the natural arrangement of vertebrose animals. The London Medical Repository Monthly Journal and Review 15:296-310 |
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| Common Name(s) | Hippopotamus, Hippopotamuses |
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| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamidae |
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| Gray J. E. On the natural arrangement of vertebrose animals, The London Medical Repository Monthly Journal and Review 15, 296-310 |
| Bonaparte C.-L. , Conspectus Systematis Mastozoologiae. Editio Altera Reformata [Survey of the system of mammals. Second revised edition]. E. J. Brill, Leyden, 1 |
| Flower W. H. On the arrangement of the Orders and Families of existing Mammalia, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1883, 178-186 |
| Cope E. D. Synopsis of the families of Vertebrata, The American Naturalist 23, 1-29 |
| Gregory W. K. (1910) The orders of mammals, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 27, 1-524 |
| Jaekel O. (1911) , Die Wirbeltiere. Eine Übersicht über die Fossilen und Lebenden Formen [The Vertebrates. An Overview of the Fossil and Living Forms], viii-252 |
| Coryndon S. C. (1977) The taxonomy and nomenclature of the Hippopotamidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) and a description of two new fossil species II. A description of two new species of Hexaprotodon, Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen 80 2, 72-88 |
| Gaziry A. W. (1987) Hexaprotodon sahabiensis (Artiodactyla, Mammalia); A new hippopotamus from Libya, Neogene Paleontology and Geology of Sahabi, 303-315 |
| Carroll R. L. (1988) , Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1-698 |
| Stuenes S. (1989) Taxonomy, Habits, and Relationships of the Subfossil Madagascan Hippopotami Hippopotamus lemerlei and H. madagascariensis, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 9 3, 241-268 |
| Nowak R. M. (1991) Walker's Mammals of the World, Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Press (edited volume) II |
| McKenna M. C., Bell S. K. (1997) , Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level, 1-640 |
| Waddell P. J., Okada N., et al (1999) Towards resolving the interordinal relationships of placental mammals, Systematic Biology 48 1, 1-5 |
| Weston E. M. (2000) A new species of hippopotamus Hexaptrotodon lothagamensis (Mammalia: Hippopotamidae) from the late Miocene of Kenya, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20 1, 177-185 |
| Thewissen J. G. M, Williams E. M., et al (2001) Skeletons of terrestrial cetaceans and the relationship of whales to artiodactyls, Nature 413, 277-281 |
| Boisserie J.-R., Brunet M., et al (2003) Hippopotamids from the Djurab Pliocene faunas, Chad, Central Africa, Journal of African Earth Sciences 36, 15-27 |
| Boisserie J.-R., Suwa G., et al (2003) Basal hippopotamines from the upper Miocene of Chorora, Ethiopia, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37 3, e1297718 doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1297718 |
| Boisserie J.-R. (2005) The phylogeny and taxonomy of Hippopotamidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla): a review based on morphology and cladistic analysis, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 143, 1-26 |
| Boisserie J.-R., Lihoreau F., et al (2005) The position of Hippopotamidae within Cetartiodactyla, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102 5, 1537-1541 |
| Agnarsson I., May-Collado L. J. (2008) The phylogeny of Cetartiodactyla: The importance of dense taxon sampling, missing data, and the remarkable promise of cytochrome b to provide reliable species-level phylogenies, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48, 964-985 |
| Spaulding M., O'Leary M. A., et al (2009) Relationships of Cetacea (Artiodactyla) among mammals: Increased taxon sampling alters interpretations of key fossils and character evolution, PloS One 4 9, e7062 |
| Asher R. J., Helgen K. M. (2010) Nomenclature and placental mammal phylogeny, BMC Evolutionary BIology 10 102, 1-9 |
| Boisserie J.-R., Lihoreau F., et al (2010) Morphology and phylogenetic relationships of the earliest known hippopotamids (Cetartiodactyla, Hippopotamidae, Kenyapotaminae), Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society 158, 325-266 |
| Weston E., Boisserie J.-R. (2010) Hippopotamidae, Cenozoic Mammals of Africa, 853-871 |
| Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds., 2005: null. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 3rd ed., vols. 1 & 2. 2142. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) |
| Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds., 1992: null. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 2nd ed., 3rd printing. xviii + 1207. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) |
| Wilson, Don E., and F. Russell Cole, 2000: null. Common Names of Mammals of the World. xiv + 204. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) |
| Benton, M.J. (ed). (1993). The Fossil Record 2. Chapman & Hall, London, 845 pp. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| Parker, S.P. (ed). (1982). Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms. McGraw-Hill, New York. 2 volumes. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
Hippopotamidae
Hippopotamus
