Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus

The Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus or Cypriot pygmy hippopotamus (Hippopotamus minor or Phanourios minor) is an extinct species of hippopotamus that inhabited the island of Cyprus from the Pleistocene until the early Holocene. The 200-kilogram (440 lb) Cyprus dwarf hippo was roughly the same size as the extant pygmy hippopotamus. Unlike the modern pygmy hippo, the Cyprus dwarf became small through the process of insular dwarfism. H. minor is the smallest hippopotamus of all known insular hippopotamuses.[2] It is estimated to have measured 76 cm (2.5 ft) tall and 121 cm (4.0 ft) long.[3]

Cyprus dwarf hippo
Temporal range: Pleistocene to Early Holocene,
Composite mounted skeleton of H. minor
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Hippopotamidae
Genus: Hippopotamus
Linnaeus, 1758
Species:
†H. minor
Binomial name
†Hippopotamus minor
Synonyms

Phanourios minor Sondaar and Boekschoten, 1972

Mitochondrial DNA suggests that its closest living relative is the common hippopotamus, (Hippopotamus amphibius) with an estimated divergence between 1.36 to 1.58 million years ago.[4] The ancestor of the Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus is uncertain, but is likely either H. amphibius[4] or the extinct species Hippopotamus antiquus.[5] The timing of the colonisation is uncertain, though the earliest fossils date to around 219-185,000 years ago.[4] At the time of its extinction around 12,000 years ago, the Cyprus dwarf hippo, along with the similarly sized Cyprus dwarf elephant, were the only large mammals native to the islands, and one of only four native terrestrial mammal species, alongside the still living Cypriot mouse and the extinct genet species Genetta plesictoides,[6] and had no natural predators.[7]

Compared to H. amphibius, the muzzle region of the skull is much shorter, and the skull as a whole resembles that of the pygmy hippopotamus.[8] Unlike other species of the genus Hippopotamus, the lower fourth premolar has been lost.[5] The teeth of H. minor are more brachydont (less high crowned) than those of H. amphibius, suggesting that H. minor probably occupied a browsing niche, in contrast to the grazing predominant diet of modern Hippopotamus amphibius, though its diet is likely to have varied in correspondence to glacial cycle-induced climatic changes.[9] Analysis of the limb and hand bones suggests that it was more terrestrial than its living relatives, and capable of moving on the rugged terrain of Cyprus, with changes including the shortening of the distal (closest to foot) part of the legs, and increased robustness of the limb bones.[10][5]

Bones of H. minor are associated with human artifacts at the Aetokremnos rockshelter on the southern coast of Cyprus, dating to approximately 12,000 years Before Present, which is suggested by some authors to provide evidence that the Cyprus dwarf hippo was encountered and driven to extinction by the early human residents of Cyprus.[11][12][13] However, these suggestions have been contested, with an alternative proposal that bones at Aetokremnos accumulated naturally over hundreds of years, with the human occupation of the site after the bones were initially deposited.[14][15]

Taxonomy
Skull and jaw of a Cypriot dwarf hippo

Many scientists maintain the name Phanourios minor for the Cypriot dwarf hippo. This generic name was given by Paul Sondaar and Bert Boekschoten in 1972,[16] based on the remains from Agios Georgios, Cyprus. At the site, a chapel had been built into the fossiliferous rocks. The rock strata here are very rich in bone content (bone breccia). For centuries, as already mentioned by Bordone in the 16th century,[17] villagers have gone there to collect these bones, which in their opinion are holy, because they are the petrified remains of Saint Fanourios (see also Phanourios (saint)), a Greek Orthodox saint who, according to local myth, had fled from Syria to escape his persecutors, but had been stranded on the hostile rocky coast of Cyprus. The collected bones are ground into a powder believed to have medicinal powers. To honour the local tradition and to refer to the site, Sondaar and Boekschoten named their new genus Phanourios, following the Greek spelling. They gave the specific name minutus, but this was later changed to minor following rules of priority.[16] Other authors contend that the genus Hippopotamus should be maintained for the species, because it descends from other members of the Hippopotamus genus.[4][8]

See also

References
  1. Desmarest, A.G., 1822. Mammalogie ou description des espèces de mammifères. Mme Veuve Agasse imprimeur édit., Paris, 2ème part., pp.277-555.
  2. Van der Geer A., Lyras G., De Vos J., Dermitzakis M. 2010. Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands. Wiley-Blackwell.
  3. Hadjicostis, Menelaos (6 December 2007). "Dwarf Hippo Fossils Found on Cyprus". Fox Television. The Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  4. Psonis, Nikolaos; Vassou, Despoina; Nicolaou, Loucas; Roussiakis, Socrates; Iliopoulos, George; Poulakakis, Nikos; Sfenthourakis, Spyros (2022-11-02). "Mitochondrial sequences of the extinct Cypriot pygmy hippopotamus confirm its phylogenetic placement". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 196 (3): 979–989. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab089. ISSN 0024-4082.
  5. Georgitsis, Michail K.; Liakopoulou, Dionysia Ε.; Theodorou, Georgios E.; Tsiolakis, Efthymios (August 2022). "Functional morphology of the hindlimb of fossilized pygmy hippopotamus from Ayia Napa (Cyprus)". Journal of Morphology. 283 (8): 1048–1079. doi:10.1002/jmor.21488. ISSN 0362-2525. PMID 35708268. S2CID 249709335.
  6. Athanassiou, Athanassios; van der Geer, Alexandra A.E.; Lyras, George A. (August 2019). "Pleistocene insular Proboscidea of the Eastern Mediterranean: A review and update". Quaternary Science Reviews. 218: 306–321. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.06.028. S2CID 199107354.
  7. Burness, G. P.; Diamond, J.; Flannery, T. (2001-12-04). "Dinosaurs, dragons, and dwarfs: The evolution of maximal body size". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 98 (25): 14518–14523. Bibcode:2001PNAS...9814518B. doi:10.1073/pnas.251548698. ISSN 0027-8424. JSTOR 3057309. PMC 64714. PMID 11724953.
  8. van der Geer, Alexandra A. E.; Lyras, George A.; Mitteroecker, Philipp; MacPhee, Ross D. E. (September 2018). "From Jumbo to Dumbo: Cranial Shape Changes in Elephants and Hippos During Phyletic Dwarfing". Evolutionary Biology. 45 (3): 303–317. doi:10.1007/s11692-018-9451-1. ISSN 0071-3260. S2CID 255346580.
  9. Bethune, Elehna; Kaiser, Thomas M.; Schulz-Kornas, Ellen; Winkler, Daniela E. (November 2019). "Multiproxy dietary trait reconstruction in Pleistocene Hippopotamidae from the Mediterranean islands". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 533: 109210. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.05.032. S2CID 181824675.
  10. Georgitsis, Michail K.; Liakopoulou, Dionysia Ε; Theodorou, Georgios E. (2022). "Morphofunctional examination of the carpal bones of pygmy hippopotamus from Ayia Napa, Cyprus". The Anatomical Record. 305 (2): 297–320. doi:10.1002/ar.24738. ISSN 1932-8494. PMID 34369097. S2CID 236959026.
  11. Swiny, Stuart, ed. (2001). The earliest prehistory of Cyprus from colonization to exploitation (PDF). Monograph Series. Vol. 2. American Schools of Oriental Research. doi:10.2307/1357781. ISBN 0-89757-051-0. JSTOR 1357781. S2CID 161547871.
  12. Simmons, A. H. (1999). Faunal extinction in an island society: pygmy hippopotamus hunters of Cyprus. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. p. 382. doi:10.1007/b109876. ISBN 978-0306460883. OCLC 41712246.
  13. Simmons, A. H.; Mandel, R. D. (December 2007). "Not Such a New Light: A Response to Ammerman and Noller". World Archaeology. 39 (4): 475–482. doi:10.1080/00438240701676169. JSTOR 40026143. S2CID 161791746.
  14. Zazzo, Antoine; Lebon, Matthieu; Quiles, Anita; Reiche, Ina; Vigne, Jean-Denis (2015-08-18). "Direct Dating and Physico-Chemical Analyses Cast Doubts on the Coexistence of Humans and Dwarf Hippos in Cyprus". PLOS ONE. 10 (8). e0134429. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1034429Z. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0134429. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4540316. PMID 26284623.
  15. Nicolaou, Loucas; Iliopoulos, George; Roussiakis, Socrates (December 2020). "Population dynamics on Aetokremnos hippos of Cyprus or have Cypriots ever tasted hippo meat?". Quaternary International. 568: 55–64. Bibcode:2020QuInt.568...55N. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.09.016. S2CID 224982319.
  16. Boekschoten G.J., Sondaar P.Y. 1972. On the fossil mammalia of Cyprus, I & II. Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Series B), 75 (4): 306–38.
  17. Bordone B. 1528. Libro di Benedetto Bordone. Nel qual si ragiona di tutte l'Isole del mondo, con li lor nomi antichi & moderni, historie, favole, & modi del loro vivere. Niccolo Zoppino, Venice. In facsimile, Edizioni Aldine, Modena, 1982.
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