Hippidion

Hippidion is an extinct genus of equine that lived in South America from the Late Pliocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene (Lujanian), between 2.5 million and 11,000 years ago. Hippidion arrived in South America along with many other animals of North American origin as part of the Great American Interchange. They were one of two lineages of equines native to South America during the Pleistocene epoch, alongside Equus (Amerhippus) neogeus. Hippidion ranged widely over South America, extending to the far south of Patagonia. Hippidion differs from living equines of the genus Equus in having a long notch separating the nasal bone from the rest of the skull, which may indicate the presence of a prehensile upper lip.

Hippidion

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
EquiniPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Equinae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Equinae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 4.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 4.7 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 9.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 102 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 102 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 92 of 102 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 3 of 102 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.6–4.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.3–4.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.6–3.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.3–3.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.0–2.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.3–2.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.6–1.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.3–990 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences990 ka–660 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences660 ka–330 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences330 ka–0 Mya — about 67 occurrences4.7 Mya11.7 ka9.9 Mya0 Mya

102 occurrences of Hippidion on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

102 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

22 formations

Tarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WTarija — 21.50°S, 64.75°WSopas — 30.43°S, 56.45°WSopas — 31.25°S, 57.00°WSopas — 32.05°S, 56.12°WVorohué — 38.03°S, 57.72°WVorohué — 38.12°S, 57.70°WDolores — 34.42°S, 56.26°WDolores — 34.38°S, 57.88°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WNuapua — 20.87°S, 63.07°WUquía — 23.33°S, 65.33°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.07°S, 60.55°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.28°S, 60.37°WChiu Chiu — 22.44°S, 68.91°WTouro Passo — 29.67°S, 56.87°WUlloma — 17.42°S, 68.50°WLaguna de Tagua Tagua — 34.50°S, 71.17°WAgua Blanca — 38.48°S, 61.80°WChiu-Chiu — 22.34°S, 68.67°WMesa — 9.85°N, 63.33°WSanta Vitória — 33.74°S, 53.37°WLibertad — 34.53°S, 56.18°WUquia — 23.20°S, 65.33°WTafi del Valle — 26.85°S, 65.71°WSan Andres — 38.12°S, 57.70°WYupoi — 28.60°S, 59.03°WMiramar — 37.87°S, 57.51°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Hippidion has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 65 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hippidion and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Hippidion and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

470 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 80 sites for Hippidion, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

55 references

Each of the 102 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 43 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Hippidion

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Hippidion principale · zmb:mbma:21700

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEquini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1869