Equus conversidens

Equus conversidens
Temporal range: 2.588–0.009 Ma
↓
Equus conversidens
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Equidae
Genus: Equus
Species: †E. conversidens
Binomial name
†Equus conversidens
Owen, 1869

Equus conversidens (Owen 1869), or the Mexican horse, is a dubious Pleistocene species of horse, now extinct, that inhabited North America.

The holotype of Equus conversidens, a partial palate, was unearthed in Pleistocene deposits northeast of Mexico City, Mexico. In January 1963, a partial skeleton was found in the city of Canyon, Texas in a white clay bed during the excavation of a basement, and was referred to E. conversidens by Dalquest and Hughes (1965), who interpreted the species as medium to small-sized, and added additional records of the species from Texas (including a skeleton from Slaton), Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Florida, synonymizing Equus francisci, Equus tau, E. littoralis, E. achates, and E. barcenaei with E. conversidens.[1] However, Winans (1985) and MacFadden (1992) challenged the validity of E. conversidens due to its minimal diagnostic value, and treated E. francisci as valid.[2][3] Subsequent study confirmed the nomen dubium status of E. conversidens because the holotype was undiagnostic besides its small size.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Walter W. Dalquest and Jack T. Hughes, 1965. The Pleistocene Horse, Equus conversidens. American Midland Naturalist. 74(2):408-417 Published by: The University of Notre Dame. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2423270.
  2. ↑ Winans, M.C. 1985. Revision of North American fossil species of the genus Equus (Mammalia:Perissodactyla:Equidae). Unpublished PhD dissertation. Austin: University ofTexas, Austin, Texas. 264 pp.
  3. ↑ MacFadden, B.J. 1992. Fossil horses: systematics, paleobiology, and evolution of the family Equidae. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 369 p.
  4. ↑ Heintzman, Peter D; Zazula, Grant D; MacPhee, Ross DE; Scott, Eric; Cahill, James A; McHorse, Brianna K; Kapp, Joshua D; et al. (2017). "A new genus of horse from Pleistocene North America". eLife. 6. doi:10.7554/eLife.29944 .
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.