Hippotherium
Extinct genus of mammals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hippotherium is an extinct genus of horse that lived during the Miocene through Pliocene ~13.65—6.7 Mya, existing for 6.95 million years.
| Hippotherium Temporal range: Middle to Late Miocene | |
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| Skeleton of Hippotherium primigenium, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Equidae |
| Subfamily: | Equinae |
| Tribe: | †Hipparionini |
| Genus: | †Hippotherium Kaup, 1832 |
| Species | |
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The last known surviving Hippotherium was H. malpassii, found in Italy.[1]
Species
The type species, H. primigenium, is known from Miocene deposits in Europe (e.g., the Hegau region in southern Germany)[2] and the Middle East, while the species H. koenigswaldi and H. catalaunicum have been found in Miocene deposits in Spain.[citation needed] The Asian hipparionin "Hipparion" weihoense from early Late Miocene deposits in northern China has also been referred to the genus.[3][4]
Diet
H. primigenium was a generalist feeder which frequently browsed but could also exploit grasses.[5] The dental mesowear of H. primigenium reveals that it lived in both open environments such as reed flats and closed environments such as mesophytic forests.[6] In the arid Pannonian Basin System, Hippotherium is known to have migrated to make use of water sources with a high elevation origin, particularly from the nearby Vienna Basin.[7]
