PBDB Taxon

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Indohyus

Mammalia - Raoellidae

Taxonomy

Indohyus was named by Ranga Rao (1971).

It was assigned to Choeropotamidae by Ranga Rao (1971); to Helohyidae by Coombs and Coombs (1977) and Carroll (1988); to Cetaceamorpha by Spaulding et al. (2009); and to Raoellidae by Kumar and Sahni (1985), McKenna and Bell (1997), Thewissen et al. (2001), Thewissen et al. (2001), Theodor et al. (2007), Thewissen et al. (2007), Orliac and Ducrocq (2012), Thewissen et al. (2020) and Bouaziz et al. (2025).

Species

I. indirae (syn. Metkatius kashmiriensis, Kunmunella rajauriensis, I. kalakotensis, Haqueina haquei, Raoella dograi, Kunmunella transversa), I. major

Species lacking formal opinion data

I. indriae

Synonyms

Kunmunella was named by Sahni and Khare (1971).

It was synonymized subjectively with Indohyus by Thewissen et al. (1987), Thewissen et al. (2007) and Thewissen et al. (2020).

It was assigned to Dichobunidae by Sahni and Khare (1971); to Helohyidae by Coombs and Coombs (1977) and Carroll (1988); and to Raoellidae by Sahni et al. (1981), Kumar and Sahni (1985), McKenna and Bell (1997), Thewissen et al. (2001), Thewissen et al. (2001), Theodor et al. (2007) and Orliac and Ducrocq (2012).
Raoella was named by Sahni and Khare (1971).

It was synonymized subjectively with Indohyus by Thewissen et al. (1987) and Thewissen et al. (2020).

It was assigned to Anthracotheriidae by Sahni and Khare (1971); to Helohyidae by Coombs and Coombs (1977) and Carroll (1988); and to Raoellidae by Sahni et al. (1981) and McKenna and Bell (1997).
Metkatius was named by Kumar and Sahni (1985). It is not extant.

It was synonymized subjectively with Indohyus by Thewissen et al. (2007) and Thewissen et al. (2020).

It was assigned to Raoellidae by Kumar and Sahni (1985), McKenna and Bell (1997), Theodor et al. (2007) and Orliac and Ducrocq (2012).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1971	Indohyus Ranga Rao p. 126
1971	Raoella Sahni and Khare p. 47
1971	Kunmunella Sahni and Khare p. 50 figs. Plate 1, Fig. 5: Fig. 4
1977	Indohyus Coombs and Coombs p. 292
1977	Kunmunella Coombs and Coombs p. 292
1977	Raoella Coombs and Coombs p. 292
1981	Kunmunella Sahni et al. p. 692
1981	Raoella Sahni et al. p. 692
1985	Metkatius Kumar and Sahni p. 157
1985	Kunmunella Kumar and Sahni p. 160
1985	Indohyus Kumar and Sahni p. 164
1988	Indohyus Carroll p. 639
1988	Kunmunella Carroll p. 639
1988	Raoella Carroll p. 639
1997	Indohyus McKenna and Bell p. 392
1997	Kunmunella McKenna and Bell p. 392
1997	Metkatius McKenna and Bell p. 392
1997	Raoella McKenna and Bell p. 392
2001	Indohyus Thewissen et al. p. suppl.
2001	Kunmunella Thewissen et al. p. suppl.
2001	Indohyus Thewissen et al. p. 358
2001	Kunmunella Thewissen et al. p. 358
2007	Indohyus Theodor et al. p. 55
2007	Kunmunella Theodor et al. p. 57
2007	Metkatius Theodor et al. p. 57
2007	Indohyus Thewissen et al. p. 1190
2009	Indohyus Spaulding et al.
2012	Indohyus Orliac and Ducrocq p. 87 figs. Fig. 3
2012	Kunmunella Orliac and Ducrocq p. 87
2012	Metkatius Orliac and Ducrocq p. 87
2020	Indohyus Thewissen et al. p. 338
2025	Indohyus Bouaziz et al. p. 4

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()

Rank	Name	Author
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Boreoeutheria
—	Laurasiatheria
—	Scrotifera
—	Euungulata
—	Artiodactylamorpha
—	Artiodactyla	()
superfamily	Dichobunoidea	Gill 1872
family	Raoellidae
genus	Indohyus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Indohyus Ranga Rao 1971

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†Indohyus indirae Ranga Rao 1971

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Invalid names: Haqueina haquei Dehm and Oettingen-Spielberg 1958 [synonym], Indohyus kalakotensis Ranga Rao 1971 [synonym], Kunmunella rajauriensis Sahni and Khare 1971 [synonym], Kunmunella transversa Kumar and Sahni 1985 [synonym], Metkatius kashmiriensis Kumar and Sahni 1985 [synonym], Raoella dograi Sahni and Khare 1971 [synonym]

†Indohyus major Thewissen et al. 1987

Invalid names: Kunmunella Sahni and Khare 1971 [synonym], Metkatius Kumar and Sahni 1985 [synonym], Raoella Sahni and Khare 1971 [synonym]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

terrestrialo

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Life habit:

ground dwellingo

Diet:

herbivoreg

Diet 2:

omnivoreg

Reproduction:

viviparoussubc

Created:

2011-04-22 22:55:11

Modified:

2011-04-22 07:55:11

Source: g = genus, o = order, subc = subclass, c = class, subp = subphylum

References: Hendy et al. 2009, Spaulding et al. 2009, Carroll 1988, Lillegraven 1979, Nowak 1999

Age range: base of the Ypresian to the top of the Lutetian or 56.00000 to 41.30000 Ma

Collections (10 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Ypresian	56.0 - 47.8	India (Jammu and Kashmir)	Metkatius kashmiriensis, Kunmunella kalakotensis, Kunmunella transversa, I. indirae (45588)
Lutetian	47.8 - 41.3	Pakistan (North-West Frontier)	I. indriae, I. major (28978)
Lutetian	47.8 - 41.3	India (Jammu and Kashmir)	I. indirae (180536) I. kalakotensis, I. indirae (77524)
Lutetian	47.8 - 41.3	Pakistan (Punjab)	Haqueina haquei (45529)
Middle Eocene	47.8 - 37.71	Pakistan (Punjab)	Kunmunella transversa (87965)
Middle Eocene	47.8 - 37.71	India (Jammu and Kashmir)	Raoella dograi, Kunmunella rajauriensis (13303)
Middle Eocene	47.8 - 37.71	China (Jiangsu)	Khirtharia major (122719) Suoidea indet. (37493)
Middle Eocene	47.8 - 37.71	India (Jammu & Kashmir)	I. indirae (31106)