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Metaxytherium medium

Mammalia - Sirenia - Dugongidae

Taxonomy
Hippopotamus medius was named by Desmarest (1822). Its type specimen is MNHN Fs 2706, a mandible (partial left mandible with M2-3), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Baltringen, which is in a Burdigalian marine horizon in Germany.

It was recombined as Hippopotamus (Tetraprotodon) medius by Falconer and Cautley (1836); it was synonymized subjectively with Metaxytherium cordieri by Trouessart (1898); it was recombined as Metaxytherium medium by Hooijer (1952), Heal (1973), Fondi and Pacini (1974), Domning (1994), Domning (1996), Bianucci and Landini (2003), Domning (2008), Domning and Pervesler (2012), Voss (2014) and Iliopoulos et al. (2022).

Sister species lacking formal opinion data

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1822Hippopotamus medius Desmarest pp. 388-389
1829Hippopotamus intermedius Holl
1829Manatus fossilis Holl p. 69
1832Halicore cuvierii de Christol
1836Hippopotamus (Tetraprotodon) medius Falconer and Cautley p. 51
1840Halitherium cuvieri Kaup
1844Manatus cuvieri de Blainville p. 122
1844Metaxytherium cuvierii de Christol p. 130
1844Metaxytherium cordieri de Christol in de Blainville p. 130
1847Manatus fossilis Gervais p. 221
1848Halianassa cordieri Bronn p. 562
1848Halianassa cuvieri Bronn p. 562
1853Halitherium cordieri Bronn p. 787
1867Halitherium cordieri Peters p. 309
1885Halitherium cuvieri Woodward p. 425
1885Halitherium fossile Woodward p. 425
1887Halitherium fossile Lydekker p. 6
1895Metaxytherium fossile Deperet p. 409
1898Metaxytherium cordieri Trouessart p. 1004
1904Metaxytherium petersi Abel p. 15
1904Metaxitherium cordieri Trouessart p. 750
1925Metaxytherium cuvieri Zittel p. 265
1928Thalattosiren petersi Sickenberg p. 294
1944Metaxytherium petersi Zbyszewski
1951Haplosiren leganyii Kretzoi p. 438
1952Metaxytherium medium Hooijer p. 114
1973Metaxytherium medium Heal p. 140
1974Metaxytherium cuvieri Fondi and Pacini p. 45
1974Metaxytherium medium Fondi and Pacini p. 45
1989Metaxytherium catalaunicum Pilleri et al. p. 68 figs. Plates XXVIII-XXXIII
1994Metaxytherium medium Domning p. 189
1996Metaxytherium medium Domning p. 387
1996Thalattosiren petersi Domning p. 388
2003Metaxytherium medium Bianucci and Landini p. 567
2008Metaxytherium medium Domning p. 528
2012Metaxytherium medium Domning and Pervesler p. 136
2014Metaxytherium medium Voss p. 91 figs. Figure 3
2022Metaxytherium medium Iliopoulos et al. p. 398

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
Bilateria
EubilateriaAx 1987
Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
Tetrapoda
Reptiliomorpha
Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
Cotylosauria()
Amniota
subclassSynapsida
Therapsida()
infraorderCynodontia()
RankNameAuthor
Mammaliamorpha
Mammaliaformes
classMammalia
Theriamorpha(Rowe 1993)
Theriiformes()
Trechnotheria
Cladotheria
Zatheria
subclassTribosphenida()
subclassTheria
Eutheria()
Placentalia
AfrotheriaStanhope et al. 1998
Tethytheria
orderSirenia()
familyDugongidae
subfamilyHalitheriinae()
genusMetaxytherium
speciesmedium()

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.

Metaxytherium medium Desmarest 1822
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Invalid names: Halitherium cuvieri de Christol 1832 [synonym], Haplosiren leganyii Kretzoi 1951 [synonym], Hippopotamus intermedius Holl 1829 [synonym], Manatus fossilis Holl 1829 [synonym], Metaxytherium catalaunicum Pilleri et al. 1989 [synonym], Metaxytherium cordieri de Christol in de Blainville 1844 [synonym], Metaxytherium petersi Abel 1904 [synonym]
Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
D. P. Domning and P. Pervesler 2012Metaxytherium differing from M. krahu- letzi by ventral extremity of jugal usually lying fully ventral to orbit [c. 85(2)]; differs from later European species (M. serresii,M. subapenninum) by having a tusk alveolus much less than half the length of the premaxillary symphysis [c. 140(0)]._