Hippopotamus melitensis Temporal range: Pleistocene |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Hippopotamidae |
Genus: | Hippopotamus |
Species: | †H. melitensis |
Binomial name | |
†Hippopotamus melitensis Major, 1902[1] |
Hippopotamus melitensis is an extinct hippopotamus. It arrived after the Messinian salinity crisis and lived during the Pleistocene on Malta. The absence of predators led to the dwarfing of the hippos. The majority of findings of this species are known from the Għar Dalam, a cave on Malta famous for its Pleistocene fossil deposits.