| Cretan dwarf hippopotamus | |
|---|---|
) | |
| Life restoration | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Hippopotamidae |
| Genus: | Hippopotamus |
| Species: | †H. creutzburgi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Hippopotamus creutzburgi (Boekschoten & Sondaar, 1966)[1] | |
| Subspecies | |
| |
The Cretan dwarf hippopotamus (Hippopotamus creutzburgi) is an extinct species of hippopotamus from the island of Crete. Hippopopotamus colonized Crete probably 800,000 years ago and lived there during the Middle Pleistocene.[3] Bones of H. creutzburgi were found by Dorothea Bate on the Katharo plateau, in eastern Crete, in the 1900s.[4] A similar species, the Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus (Phanourios minor) lived on the island of Cyprus until the Holocene. It was at least 20% smaller than either subspecies of Cretan hippo.[5]
See also
- Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus
- Maltese dwarf hippopotamus
- Sicilian dwarf hippopotamus
References
- ^ Boekschoten, G.J. & Sondaar, P.Y. (1966): The Pleistocene of the Katharo basin (Crete) and its Hippopotamus. Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde 36: 17-44.
- ^ Kuss, S.E., (1975): Hippopotamus creutzburgi parvus n. ssp., ein pleistozänes Zwergflusspferd von der Insel Kreta. Ber. Naturf. Ges. Freiburg i. Br. 65:5-23
- ^ van der Geer A., Lyras G., de Vos J., Dermitzakis M., (2010): Evolution of Island Mammals: adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands. Oxford: Wiley
- ^ Bate, D.M.A., (1905): I. Four and a half months in Crete in search of Pleistocene mammalian remains. Geol. Mag. 2: 13-204.
- ^ Alexandra van der Geer; George Lyras; John de Vos; Michael Dermitzakis (2011). Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands. p. 48. ISBN 9781444391282.