The oldest fossil hippopotamus (Hippopotamus laloumena) of Madagascar (Belobaka, Mahajanga Province)

The Upper Pleistocene site Belobaka XVII (about 20,000 years) has yielded some Hippopotami remains included in a very hard breccia. Among this material two lower premolars, a juvenile calcaneus, two juvenile metatarsals and a first abaxial phalange have been cleaned and can be studied. They belong to Hippopotamus laloumena Faure and Guérin, 1990, allowed us to know for the first time the P/2 and P/3 of that species and confirm its validity. Belobaka is then the third Malagasyan site where H. laloumena has been found, and the first which yielded Pleistocene hippopotami remains. © 2010 Académie des sciences.