Dinohippus

Name: Dinohippus ‭(‬Terrible horse‭)‬.
Phonetic: Dy-noe-hip-pus.
Named By: J.‭ ‬H.‭ ‬Quinn‭ ‬-‭ ‬1955.
Synonyms: Dinohippus edensis,‭ ‬Dinohippus muelleri,‭ ‬Dinohippus ocotensis,‭ ‬Dinohippus osborni,‭ ‬Equus mesamexicanus,‭ ‬Hippidium interpolatum,‭ ‬Hippidion spectans,‭ ‬Hippidium spectans,‭ ‬Hippotigris ocotensis,‭ ‬Pliohippus bakeri,‭ ‬Pliohippus coalingensis,‭ ‬Pliohippus edensis,‭ ‬Pliohippus osborni,‭ ‬Protohippus coalingensis,‭ ‬Pliohippus interpolatus,‭ ‬Protohippus interpolatus,‭ ‬Pliohippus leidyanus,‭ ‬Pliohippus spectans,‭ ‬Protohippus muelleri,‭ ‬Protohippus spectans.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Perissodactyla,‭ ‬Equidae,‭ ‬Equinae,‭ ‬Equini.
Species: D.‭ ‬leidyanus‭ (‬type‭)‬,‭ ‬D.‭ ‬coalingensis,‭ ‬D.‭ ‬interpolatus,‭ ‬D.‭ ‬leardi,‭ ‬D.‭ ‬mexicanus,‭ ‬D.‭ ‬spectans.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Roughly about‭ ‬1.5‭ ‬meters tall at the shoulder,‭ ‬but some variance between species.
Known locations: Across North America from Canada to Mexico,‭ ‬but particularly well known from the USA.
Time period: Tortonian of the Miocene through to the Calabrian of the Pleistocene.
Fossil representation: Altogether the remains of well over a hundred individual Dinohippus are known.




       Originally classed as a species of Pliohippus,‭ ‬Dinohippus seems to have been one of the most common horses in prehistoric North America.‭ ‬Dinohippus is considered to have been very close to the modern horse genus Equus,‭ ‬and like modern horses,‭ ‬Dinohippus lacked a dished face.‭ ‬Dinohippus‭ ‬was once considered to have been an exclusively monodactyl horse,‭ ‬but some fossil evidence has now revealed that a few individuals were tridactyl,‭ ‬possibly indicating that the monodactyl/tridactyl development was dependent more upon the species as opposed to a hard and fast rule about the genus.‭ ‬The legs and feet of‭ ‬Dinohippus are also formed in such a way that Dinohippus could stand for extended periods of time with only the bare minimum of energy expenditure.‭ ‬It is for these features that many people have considered Dinohippus to be the immediate ancestor to modern horses.




Further reading
-‭ ‬Miocene Equidae of the Texas gulf coastal plain.‭ ‬-‭ ‬University of Texas,‭ ‬Bureau of Economic Geology‭ ‬-‭ ‬J.‭ ‬H.‭ ‬Quinn‭ ‬-‭ ‬1955.
‬-‭ ‬Astrohippus and Dinohippus.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology‭ ‬4‭(‬2‭)‬:273-283.‭ ‬-‭ ‬B.‭ ‬J.‭ ‬MacFadden‭ ‬-‭ ‬1984.
-‭ ‬Estimating the body mass of extinct ungulates:‭ ‬a study on the use of multiple regression.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Journal of Zoology‭ ‬-‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Mendoza,‭ ‬C.‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Janis‭ & ‬P.‭ ‬palmqvist‭ ‬-‭ ‬2006.


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