Mesohippus
Mesohippus | ||||||||||||
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Mesohippus (drawing by Heinrich Harder , around 1920) |
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Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
Upper Eocene to Oligocene | ||||||||||||
42 to 30.8 million years | ||||||||||||
Locations | ||||||||||||
Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Mesohippus | ||||||||||||
Marsh , 1875 |
Mesohippus ( Latinized from the ancient Greek μέσος mesos "middle, half" and ἵππος hippos "horse", so "half horse") was an ancestor of horses wholivedin North America 40 to 25 million years ago during the Eocene and Oligocene periods .
Mesohippus was significantly larger than its predecessor Hyracotherium with an average shoulder height of around 60 centimeters . It owes this in particular to its significantly longer legs, as well as the regression of the back arch - typical of the Hyracotherium . Its weight is estimated at around 34 kg.
The animal still had three toes on its rear paws, but now also had three toes on its front limbs, with the middle toe protruding. In addition, incisors formed , which made it possible to eat harder grass. The skull shows a depression that was also preserved in later equids.
These adaptations suggest a changed habitat. The more humid climate during the Hyracotherium era became drier and gradually a more open steppe-like landscape with bushes, scrub and smaller shrubs emerged, which Mesohippus served as a food source.
Species list
- M. bairdi
- M. barbouri
- M. braquistylus
- M. equiceps
- M. hypostylus
- M. intermedius
- M. latidens
- M. longiceps
- M. metulophus
- M. montanensis
- M. obliquidens
- M. proteulophus
- M. westoni
Web links
- Fossilworks: Mesohippus. In: fossilworks.org. (English, Paleobiology Database).
- Evolution of horses. In: www.zum.de. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019 .
- Fossil Horses - Florida Museum of Natural History. In: floridamuseum.ufl.edu. (English).
- Horse evolution. In: talkorigins.org. (English).
- The Evolution of Horses. In: amnh.org. (English).