
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.