Hipparion
Encyclopedia
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
living in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
during the Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
through Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
~23 Mya—781,000 years ago, existing for (genus including species). Hipparion sp. (~12.7 Ma—781,000) existed for approximately .
Its habitat or biome
Biome
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
would be that of non-forested, grassy plain
Plain
In geography, a plain is land with relatively low relief, that is flat or gently rolling. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or...
s, shortgrass prairie
Shortgrass prairie
The shortgrass prairie ecosystem of the North American Great Plains is a prairie that includes lands from the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains east to Nebraska and Saskatchewan, including rangelands in Alberta, Wyoming, Montana, North, South Dakota, and Kansas, and extending to the south...
or steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
s.
Taxonomy
Hipparion was named by de Christol (1832) with it assigned the type European H. prostylum. It was assigned to EquidaeEquidae
Equidae is the taxonomic family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, donkeys, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils. All extant species are in the genus Equus...
by de Christol (1832), Thurmond and Jones (1981) and Carroll (1988); and to Hipparionini by MacFadden (1998).
Morphology
Hipparion resembled the modern horse, but still had three vestigal outer toes (in addition to its hoofClaw
A claw is a curved, pointed appendage, found at the end of a toe or finger in most mammals, birds, and some reptiles. However, the word "claw" is also often used in reference to an invertebrate. Somewhat similar fine hooked structures are found in arthropods such as beetles and spiders, at the end...
). These did not touch the ground. Hipparion was about 1.4 metres (13.8 h) tall at the shoulder.
Body mass
Three specimens were examined by Legendre and Roth for body mass.- Specimen 1 was estimated to weigh: 118.9 kg (262.1 lb)
- Specimen 2 was estimated to weigh: 69.4 kg (153 lb)
- Specimen 3 was estimated to weigh: 62.8 kg (138.5 lb)
Fossil distribution
- H. concudense was named by Pirlot (1956). Fossil distribution: Casa del Acero site, Murcia, Spain and Masia de La Roma site, Aragon, Spain. It was endemic to Southwestern Europe ~11.6—5.3 Mya.
- H. crassum was named by Gervais (1859). Fossil distribution: Odessa, Ukraine, Dorkovo, UkraineUkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. It was endemic to Southeastern Europe ~4.9 Mya—11,000 years ago. - H. dietrichi was named by Wehrli (1941). Fossil distribution: Macedonia, Greece and Nikiti, Greece. It was endemic to Southeastern Europe ~9 —5.3 Mya.
- H. fissurae was named by Crusafont and Sondaar (1971). Fossil distribution: Soria, Spain. It was endemic to Southwestern Europe ~5.3 —3.4 Mya.
- H. forcei was named by Richey (1948). Fossil distribution: Contra CostaContra Costa County, CaliforniaContra Costa County is a primarily suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 1,049,025...
, Santa CruzSanta Cruz County, CaliforniaSanta Cruz County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, on the California Central Coast. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay. . As of the 2010 U.S. Census, its population was 262,382. The county seat is Santa Cruz...
, Los AngelesLos Angeles County, CaliforniaLos Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
counties. It was endemic to western North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
~23—5.3 Mya. - H. gromovae was named by Villalta and Crusafont (1957). Fossil distribution: Murcia, Spain. It was endemic to Southwestern Europe. ~9—5.3 Mya.
- H. laromae was named by Pesquero et al. (2006). Fossil distribution: Teruel, Spain. It was endemic to Southwestern Europe. ~9.7—8.7 Mya.
- H. longipes was named by Gromova (1952). Fossil distribution: Ankara, Turkey. It was endemic to EurasiaEurasiaEurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
. ~5.3—3.4 Mya. - H. macedonicum was named by Koufos (1984). Fossil distribution: Greece. It was endemic to Southwestern Europe. ~8.7—7.8 Mya.
- H. matthewi was named by Abel (1926). Fossil distribution: Ankara, Turkey. It was endemic to Asia MinorAsia MinorAsia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
. ~11.6—5.3 Mya. - H. mediterraneum was named by Roth and Wagner (1855). Fossil distribution: IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Turkey, Greece. It was endemic to Asia Minor, Greece ~9—5.3 Mya. - H. molayanense was named by Zouhri (1992). Fossil distribution: AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
It was endemic to Southwest AsiaSouthwest AsiaWestern Asia, West Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia are terms that describe the westernmost portion of Asia. The terms are partly coterminous with the Middle East, which describes a geographical position in relation to Western Europe rather than its location within Asia...
~9—5.3 Mya. - H. periafricanum was named by de Christol (1832). Fossil distribution: Aragon, Spain. It was endemic to Southwestern Europe ~9—5.3 Mya.
- H. rocinantis was named by Hernández Pacheco (1921). Fossil distribution: Spain. It was endemic to Southwestern Europe ~5.3—1.8 Mya.
- H. sellardsi was named by Matthew and Stirton (1930).
- H. shirleyae was named by MacFadden (1984).
- H. tehonense was named by Stirton (1940). Fossil distribution: North America, widespread from FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
to CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. ~23.3—5.3 Mya.