Subfossil tooth of a dwarf Hippopotamus (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from the Holocene of the Berivotra ouctrops (Mahajanga Basin, NW Madagascar), with remarks on the distribution of the genus in the island

We report the presence of subfossil dwarf hippopotamuses from the neighbourhood of Berivotra (Mahajanga Basin, NW Madagascar), based on an isolated premolar of Hippopotamus, tentatively referred to H. madagascariensis Guldberg, 1882 or H. lemerlei Grandidier, 1868, two of the three species of the genus known in the Malagasy fossil record. Dwarf hippopotamuses from Madagascar are Holocenic, concentrated on the central upland and near the SW coast, with the exception of a single site on the East coast. Their presence and distribution in the N is poorly documented. The new finding, in a locality about 50 km E-SE to the city of Mahajanga, represents the innermost fossil site respect to the present coast line from the NW of the island, and increases the areal distribution of the genus in the Mahajanga Province.