Equoidea

Reconstructed skeleton of Palaeotherium magnum, by Jean Albert Gaudry.

Belongs within: Perissodactyla.
Contains: Equidae.

The Equoidea are a clade of perissodactyls uniting the horses (Equidae) with the fossil Palaeotheriidae from the Eocene and Oligocene of Eurasia.

Synapomorphies (from Hooker & Dashzeveg 2004): Upper molar metaconule large; P3 with trigon broader, protoloph stronger, paraconule (unless subsumed by protoloph) and metaconid much larger and better defined, but smaller than protocone and protoconid respectively; lower M1–2 distal cingulum lingual of hypoconulid absent.

<==Equoidea [Hippomorpha, Hyracotheriinae]HD04
    |--+--Cymbalophus Hooker 1984HD04, F02
    |  |    `--*C. cuniculus (Owen 1842) [=Hyracotherium cuniculus]F02
    |  `--Systemodon Cope 1881F02
    |       |--*S. tapirinus (Cope 1875) [=Hyracotherium tapirinum, Orohippus tapirinus; incl. H. cristatum Wortman 1896]F02
    |       `--S. etsagicus (Cope 1884) [=Hyracotherium angustidens etsagicum]F02
    `--+--Sifrhippus Froehlich 2002HD04, F02
       |    `--*S. sandrae (Gingerich 1989) [=Hyracotherium sandrae]F02
       `--+--EquidaeHD04
          `--PalaeotheriidaeHD04
               |  i. s.: Anchilophus [Anchilophidae]F02
               |         GobihippusS99
               |--Hyracotherium Owen 1841F02
               |    |--*H. leporinum Owen 1841F02
               |    |--H. procyoninum (Cope 1872) [=Helotherium procyoninum]C77
               |    |--H. siderolithicumC77
               |    `--H. sylvaticumC77
               `--+--Propalaeotherium parvulumRH14, S12
                  `--+--+--Leptolophus nouletiRH14
                     |  `--Plagiolophus Lemoine 1891RH14, SM93
                     |       `--P. annectensRH14
                     `--Palaeotherium Cuvier 1804RH14, H07
                          |--P. castrenseD07
                          |--P. crassumD07
                          |--P. curtumD07
                          |--P. lautricenseD07
                          |--P. magnum Cuvier 1804H07
                          |--P. mediumD07
                          `--P. ruetimeyeriD07

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[C77] Cope, E. D. 1877. Report upon the extinct Vertebrata obtained in New Mexico by parties of the expedition of 1874. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian 4 (2): i–iv, 1–370.

[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.

[F02] Froehlich, D. J. 2002. Quo vadis eohippus? The systematics and taxonomy of the early Eocene equids (Perissodactyla). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 134: 141–256.

[H07] Hooker, J. J. 2007. Bipedal browsing adaptations of the unusual Late Eocene-earliest Oligocene tylopod Anoplotherium (Artiodactyla, Mammalia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 151 (3): 609–659.

[HD04] Hooker, J. J., & D. Dashzeveg. 2004. The origin of chalicotheres (Perissodactyla, Mammalia). Palaeontology 47 (6): 1363–1386.

[RH14] Rose, K. D., L. T. Holbrook, R. S. Rana, K. Kumar, K. E. Jones, H. E. Ahrens, P. Missiaen, A. Sahni & T. Smith. 2014. Early Eocene fossils suggest that the mammalian order Perissodactyla originated in India. Nature Communications 5: 5570.

[S12] Schaal, S. 2012. Messel Pit fossil site—the legacy of the environment and life of the Eocene. In: Talent, J. A. (ed.) Earth and Life: Global biodiversity, extinction intervals and biogeographic perturbations through time pp. 225–236. Springer.

[S99] Stanley, S. M. 1999. Earth System History. W. H. Freeman and Company: New York.

[SM93] Stucky, R. K., & M. C. McKenna. 1993. Mammalia. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 739–771. Chapman & Hall: London.

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