Hydaspitherium
{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Late Miocene|Early Pliocene}}
| display_parents = 2
| genus = Hydaspitherium
| parent_authority = Lydekker, 1878
| species = megacephalum
| authority = Lydekker, 1878
| synonyms = Hydaspidotherium{{Cite web
|title=Genus Hydaspidotherium
|publisher=The Taxonomicon
|url=http://taxonomicon.taxonomy.nl/TaxonName.aspx?id=1201836&tree=0.1
|access-date=1 June 2013
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000124/http://taxonomicon.taxonomy.nl/TaxonName.aspx?id=1201836&tree=0.1
|archive-date=2016-03-04
}}
}}
Hydaspitherium is an extinct genus of giraffid artiodactyls that lived during the Cenozoic era during the Miocene epoch to the Pliocene epoch in Pakistan.{{Paleodb|42699|Hydaspitherium}} Giraffids are represented in the late Miocene epoch of the Siwaliks by large Sivatheriinae such as Sivatherium, Bramatherium, Helladotherium, and Hydaspitherium. Hydaspitherium has been proposed to be synonymous with Bramatherium. H. megacephalum is restricted to the Dhok Pathan Formation ({{Coord|33.6|72.5|display=inline}}, paleocoordinates {{Coord|30.9|73.9|display=inline}}){{Paleodb|collection|13474|Dhok Pathan Stratotype Fauna}} in northern Pakistan.{{Cite journal |last1=Bhatti |first1=Z. H. |last2=Khan |first2=M. A. |last3=Akhtar |first3 = M. |title=Hydaspitherium (Artiodactyla: Giraffidae) from the Dhok Pathan Formation of the Middle Siwaliks, Pakistan: New Collection |date=June 2012 |journal=Pakistan Journal of Zoology |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=799–808 |url=http://zsp.com.pk/pdf44/799-808%20_23_%20PJZ-514-10%20Revised.pdf |access-date=1 June 2013 |oclc=798111718}}{{rp|Introduction}}
Species
Four separate species of Hydaspitherium were described more than a century ago, but their differences can be explained as sexual dimorphism and intraspecific variability: H. birmanicum is based on a single right upper molar. H. grande and H. magnum are only slightly larger than H. megacephalum and the variation in dentition does not support separate taxa. It is possible these represent two species in the Siwaliks: the smaller H. megacephalum and the larger H. grande, but this is unclear until more material has been collected.{{rp|807}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
{{Refbegin}}
- {{Cite journal
| last = Lydekker | first = R. | author-link = Richard Lydekker
| title = Indian tertiary and post-tertiary vertebrate. 3. Crania of ruminants
| year = 1878 | journal = Palæontologia Indica | volume = 1 | issue = 3 | pages = 88–181
| series = Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India. 10
| oclc = 20842760 }}
- {{Cite journal
| last = Pilgrim | first = G. E. | author-link = Guy Ellcock Pilgrim
| title = Notices of new mammalian genera and species from the Tertiaries of India
| year = 1910 | journal = Records of the Geological Survey of India | volume = 40 | issue = 1 | pages = 63–71
}}
{{Refend}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5953451}}
Category:Prehistoric Artiodactyla genera
Category:Extinct mammals of Asia
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