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The Middle Pleistocene Hippopotamus from Malagrotta (Latium, Italy)
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Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
The Middle Pleistocene was characterized by the presence in continental Europe of at least two different species of hippopotamus: Hippopotamus antiquus and H. amphibius. Although suspected, the presence of both hippopotamuses in the same geographical area has not yet been proven. The following manuscript describes findings from Malagrotta (Rome, central Italy), dating back to the time span between 0.45 and 0.38 Ma. These findings offer new insights into the Middle Pleistocene period. The fragmented mandible has a slender and low corpus, the humerus is robust with a deltoid tuberosity placed medially on the diaphysis, the unciform shows a facet for the MCIV wider than the one for the MCV and the calcaneum is clepsydra-shaped. The morphological characteristics of the sample are closer to those of H. antiquus, despite the fact that the morphometric measurements are smaller than those of the samples coming from Valdarno (Italy), Untermaßfeld (Germany) or Colle Curti (Italy). Considering all the information, the material from Malagrotta is here attributed to H. cf. antiquus, indicating the survival of the European hippopotamus until at least 0.38 Ma in central Italy. The coexistence of H. amphibius and H. antiquus in the same geographical area is also discussed.
Descrição
Funding Information: R.M. is granted by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) [2021.08458.BD]. M.R. is granted by the Stimulus of Scientific Employment, Individual Support—2018 Call grant by the FCT [CEECIND/02199/2018]. L.P. is granted by SYNTHESYS+ [BE-TAF-136]. This work is part of the project P2022RZ4PL funded by the European Union—Next Generation EU, call PRIN 2022 PNRR. Publisher Copyright: © 2024 by the authors.
Palavras-chave
Hippopotamidae Italian peninsula quaternary taxonomy Earth-Surface Processes Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)