Origin of hippos updated: now including oreodonts and their ancestors
Recent changes
to large reptile tree (LRT, 2340 taxa) now nests Meniscotherium and Thomashuxleya + Periphragnis basal to oreodonts (like Merycoidodon ) and hippos (like Metamynodon).
This change to the LRT updates earlier posts here on hippo origins.
Boisserie et al 2005
struggled to understand the origin of Hippopotamidae (Artiodactyla). They wrote, “The relationships of hippos within Artiodactyla are challenging, and the immediate affinities of Hippopotamidae have been studied by biologists for almost two centuries without resolution.”
The authors did not include oreodonts, Thomashuxleya, Periphragnis and Meniscotherium in their study that focused instead on interrelationships with pigs.
The LRT includes pigs and their relatives. Pigs are not related to hippos in the LRT. So the authors were looking in the wrong clade while excluding the correct clade.
The LRT minimizes taxon exclusion.
This is just one instance out of many in which the LRT recovered interrelationships outside the scope of smaller studies.
Having trouble with your own cladogram? Add taxa.
Correcting errors to the mammal subset of the LRT took two years of long days.
Reference
Boisserie J-R, Lihoreau F and Brunet M 2005. The position of Hippopotamidae within Cetartiodactyla. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0409518102
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2026/03/15/origin-of-hippos-updated-now-including-oreodonts-and-their-ancestors/
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