Hexaprotodon sivalensis
Hexaprotodon is an extinct genus of hippopotamid. The genus name Hexaprotodon comes from Ancient Greek ἑξα- (hexa-), meaning "six", πρῶτος (prôtos), meaning "first", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth", therefore, "six front-teeth" as some of the fossil forms have three pairs of incisors. The pygmy hippopotamus was historically placed in the genus, but today is generally placed in its own genus. The core unambiguous Asian members of the genus ranged from the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia, and are thought to have had an aquatic ecology similar to that of the living common hippopotamus. Other species have been attributed to the genus from Africa and Europe, though it is unclear whether they are closely related to the Asian members of the genus. The last members of the genus became extinct during the Late Pleistocene, perhaps as recently as 15,000 years ago.

Falconer · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.
On record
Recorded, not inferred- Sits inside
- HexaprotodonPBDB
- Diet
- grazer, browserPBDB, for Hippopotamidae
- Life habit
- amphibiousPBDB, for Hexaprotodon
- Motility
- actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
- Environment
- terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla
Time the record covers
At least 2.4 million years on record.
The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka.
11 occurrences of Hexaprotodon sivalensis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.
When
11 occurrences- Pliocene32%
- Pleistocene68%
These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.
Found in
3 formations
- Tatrot Formation · Siwalik Group2
- Pinjor Formation · Siwalik Group2
- Nagrota Formation1
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The named rock units Hexaprotodon sivalensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.
Hexaprotodon sivalensis and its relatives
PleistoceneWhere Hexaprotodon sivalensis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.
Found in the same rock
102 taxa- Stegodon insignis5 sites
- Elephas planifrons4 sites
- Sus4 sites
- Bovidae3 sites
- Cervidae3 sites
- Elephas hysudricus3 sites
- Homo erectus3 sites
- Stegodon trigonocephalus3 sites
- Antilopini2 sites
- Bos (Bibos)2 sites
- Bubalus palaeokerabau2 sites
- Cervus2 sites
- Cervus lydekkeri2 sites
- Cheloniidae2 sites
- Crocodylidae2 sites
- Elephas hysudrindicus2 sites
- Equus sivalensis2 sites
- Muntiacus muntjak2 sites
- Palaeoloxodon namadicus2 sites
- Panthera tigris2 sites
- Potamochoerus2 sites
- Rhinoceros sivalensis2 sites
- Rusa2 sites
- Siluridae2 sites
The Paleobiology Database records 11 sites for Hexaprotodon sivalensis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.
This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.
Entered from
8 references- The Late Neogene elephantoid-bearing faunas of Indonesia and their palaeozoogeographic implications. A study of the terrestrial faunal succession of Sulawesi, Flores and Java, including evidence for early hominid dispersal east of Wallace's Line3
- Taphonomy, fauna, environment and ecology of Upper Sivaliks (Plio-Pleistocene) near Chandigarh, India2
- Hexaprotodon (Mammalia: Hippopotamidae) from the Pinjor Formation of Bhimber, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan1
- Some new remains of Hexaprotodon (Mammalia, Hippopotamidae) from the Pinjor Formation of Sardhok, Pakistan1
- Large mammal fossil occurrences and associated archaeological evidence in Pleistocene contexts of peninsular India and Sri Lanka1
- Siwalik mammals of the Jammu Sub-Himalaya, India: an appraisal of their diversity and habitats.1
- Plio-Pleistocene mammals from Gidhniya village, Western Nepal1
- Some Miocene and upper Siwalik [lower Pleistocene] vertebrates from Ceylon1
Each of the 11 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.
Media and terms
Media content1
Picture of Hexaprotodon sivalensis
- Source
- Wikipedia/Commons
- Credit
- Falconer
- Licence
- Public Domain
- Commercial use
- the licence allows it
No 3D scan of Hexaprotodon sivalensis was found in Sketchfab.
Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.
The description on this site
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.
Keep going
What may have been alongside itHexaprotodon through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Falconer and Cautley 1836