Within a Danakil-CHLCA, the fossil records of speciation from geographical isolation, with taxa that are endemic to the Danakil region^[1] throughout the period of isolation (6.5Ma — 2.9Ma), would follow the position of Danakil throughout the opening of the Afar region.

Within the Kolpochoerus lineage on Danakil, the earlier K. deheinzelini, is found in 4.3 to 4.6 Ma localities at the Aramis Member of Middle Awash^[2], where the “Ardi” specimen of Ardipithecus ramidus was found as well, dated to 4.4 Ma. The younger K. afarensis (3.0–3.4 Ma) is found in Hadar^[2], where the Lucy specimen of Australopithecus afarensis was found, dated to 3.2 Ma.

Species which could have been endemic to Danakil, and the result of geographical isolation on Danakil, include Hipparion afarense^[1], a species of horses that inhabited Danakil, Kolpochoerus afarensis^[1], an extinct genus of the pig family, and Hippopotamus afarensis.^[1]

References

1. Paleoecological patterns at the Hadar hominin site, Afar Regional State, Ethiopia

2. A new species of Kolpochoerus (Mammalia: Suidae) from the Pliocene of Central Afar, Ethiopia: Its Taxonomy and Phylogenetic Relationships