Hipparionini
Extinct tribe of mammals From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hipparionini is a tribe of three-toed horses in the subfamily Equinae. They had body forms similar to modern equines, with high-crowned teeth. They first appeared in North America during the Early Miocene around 17 million years ago,[1] before migrating into the Old World around 11.4-11.0 million years ago.[2] The youngest species date to the Early Pleistocene, becoming extinct following the arrives of modern equines of the genus Equus to the Old World.[3]
| Hipparionini Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Equidae |
| Subfamily: | Equinae |
| Tribe: | †Hipparionini Quinn, 1955 |
| Genera | |
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See text | |
Description
Hipparionines varied widely in size, with the smallest species like Hipparion periafricanum having a body mass of only 23 kilograms (51 lb), considerably smaller than living equines,[4] while the largest species had body masses over 300 kilograms (660 lb).[2]
Evolutionary history
In North America, hipparionins were equally diverse to equins during the Middle Miocene but overtook them in species richness during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene. At the end of the Hemphillian, hipparionins severely declined in diversity.[5]
Ecology
In the Old World hipparionins were initially browsers and mixed feeders (both browsing and grazing), over time there was increasing proportion of pure grazers, though the groups ecology remained diverse, with mixed feeding being the dominant ecology during the Pliocene.[2] Hipparionins in the western Mediterranean during the Vallesian and Turolian exhibited noticeable niche partitioning, with smaller forms being mixed feeders while larger species had more grazing diets. In contrast, contemporaneous eastern Mediterranean hipparionins did not exhibit such niche partitioning.[6]
Taxonomy
North American genera:
- "Hipparion" [1] (distinct from Old World species assigned to this genus)
- Neohipparion
- Pseudhipparion
- Nannippus
- Cormohipparion
Old World genera:[1] (widely thought to descend from Cormohipparion[2])
- Hipparion sensu stricto
- Hippotherium
- Cremohipparion
- Sivalhippus
- Eurygnathohippus
- Plesiohipparion
- Proboscidipparion
- Shanxihippus
References
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