Dinohippus

Dinohippus (Greek: "Terrible horse") is an extinct equid which was endemic to North America from the late Hemphillian stage of the Miocene through the Zanclean stage of the Pliocene (10.3—3.6 mya) and in existence for approximately 6.7 million years. Fossils are widespread throughout North America, being found at more than 30 sites from Florida to Alberta and from Mexico all the way down to Panama (Alajuela Formation). This most numerous fossils of Dinohippus have been unearthed in the Western United States in Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and California.

Taxonomy

File:Dinohippus 32.JPG

Skull

Quinn originally referred "Pliohippus" mexicanus to Dinohippus, but unpublished cladistic results in an SVP 2018 conference abstract suggest that mexicanus is instead more closely related to extant horses than to Dinohippus.

Description

Dinohippus was the most common horse in North America and like Equus, it did not have a dished face (i.e. the head profile did not have a concave section). It has a distinctive passive "stay apparatus" formed from bones and tendons to help it conserve energy while standing for long periods. Dinohippus was the first horse to show a rudimentary form of this character, providing additional evidence of the close relationship between Dinohippus and Equus. Dinohippus was originally thought to be a monodactyl horse, but a 1981 fossil find in Nebraska shows that some were tridactyl. The species D. leidyanus had an estimated body mass of approximately .

Diet

D. mexicanus fed primarily on C₃ plants in rainforest clearings based on paired carbon and oxygen isotope analysis.

File:Dinohippus leidyanus foot bones.JPG

Foot bones