Open AccessFore limb bones of late Pleistocene dwarf hippopotamuses (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla) from Madagascar previously determined as belonging to the crocodylid Voay Brochu, 2007
Author(s) -
Hampe Oliver,
SchwarzWings Daniela,
Bickelmann Constanze,
Klein Nicole
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
fossil record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1860-1014
pISSN - 1435-1943
DOI - 10.1002/mmng.201000003
Subject(s) - humerus , anatomy , ulna , subfossil , biology , radius , paleontology , computer security , computer science , holocene
A humerus and two radii of juvenile dwarf hippopotamuses are redescribed. The subfossil bones from the collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin were erroneously assigned to the horned crocodile Voay robustus (Grandidier & Vaillant, 1872) by Bickelmann & Klein (2009). All three limb bones presented here belong to immature animals. The epiphyses are not fused, except the proximal extremity of the right radius; and the radius and ulna are also unfused. The two radii are from individuals of different size, whereas the left radius and the humerus are from animals of similar size. Morphologically, the limb bones cannot be identified to species level. A tentative assignment to Hippopotamus madagascariensis is discussed based on the knowledge of the geographic origin on the island. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)