Equus giganteus

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Equus giganteus
Temporal range: Blancan–Pleistocene
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Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Equidae
Genus: Equus
Species:
E. giganteus
Binomial name
Equus giganteus
Gidley, 1901

The giant horse (Equus giganteus) is an extinct species of horse which lived in North America.

It was classified as a species based on the finding of a single tooth larger than the teeth of even the largest modern draft horses. [1] [2] Based on the tooth, the weight was estimated at 1,200–1,500 kg (2,600–3,300 lb) and the height at 2.25 m (7 ft 5 in) tall at the shoulder. [3] Because it is based on fragmentary remains, recent authors have considered the species to be an invalid nomen dubium . [4]

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Equidae is the taxonomic family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, asses, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils. The family evolved around 50 million years ago from a small, multi-toed ungulate into larger, single-toed animals. All extant species are in the genus Equus, which originated in North America. Equidae belongs to the order Perissodactyla, which includes the extant tapirs and rhinoceros, and several extinct families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perissodactyla</span> Order of hoofed mammals

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<i>Equus</i> (genus) Genus of mammals which includes horses, donkeys, and zebras

Equus is a genus of mammals in the family Equidae, which includes horses, asses, and zebras. Within the Equidae, Equus is the only recognized extant genus, comprising seven living species. Like Equidae more broadly, Equus has numerous extinct species known only from fossils. The genus most likely originated in North America and spread quickly to the Old World. Equines are odd-toed ungulates with slender legs, long heads, relatively long necks, manes, and long tails. All species are herbivorous, and mostly grazers, with simpler digestive systems than ruminants but able to subsist on lower-quality vegetation.

<i>Triplofusus giganteus</i> Species of tulip snail - the horse conch

Triplofusus giganteus, commonly known as the Florida horse conch, or the giant horse conch, is a species of extremely large predatory subtropical and tropical sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Fasciolariidae, the spindle snails, tulip snails and their allies. On average, it weighs over 11 pounds.

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The wild horse is a species of the genus Equus, which includes as subspecies the modern domesticated horse as well as the endangered Przewalski's horse. The European wild horse, also known as the tarpan, that went extinct in the late 19th or early 20th century has previously been treated as the nominate subspecies of wild horse, Equus ferus ferus, but more recent studies have cast doubt on whether tarpans were truly wild or if they actually were feral horses or hybrids.

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The evolution of the horse, a mammal of the family Equidae, occurred over a geologic time scale of 50 million years, transforming the small, dog-sized, forest-dwelling Eohippus into the modern horse. Paleozoologists have been able to piece together a more complete outline of the evolutionary lineage of the modern horse than of any other animal. Much of this evolution took place in North America, where horses originated but became extinct about 10,000 years ago, before being reintroduced in the 15th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hagerman horse</span> Extinct species of mammal

Equus simplicidens, sometimes known as the Hagerman horse or the American Zebra is an extinct species of equine native to North America during the Pliocene and Early-Late Pleistocene. It is one of the oldest and most primitive members of the genus Equus. Abundant remains of it were discovered in 1928 in Hagerman, Idaho. It is the state fossil of Idaho.

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Haringtonhippus is an extinct genus of equine from the Pleistocene of North America The genus is monospecific, consisting of the species H. francisci, initially described in 1915 by Oliver Perry Hay as Equus francisci. Members of the genus are often referred to as stilt-legged horses, in reference to their slender distal limb bones, in contrast with those of contemporary "stout legged" caballine true horses.

M. giganteus may refer to:

E. giganteus may refer to:

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">James W. Gidley</span> American paleontologist

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Equus occidentalis is an extinct species of wild horse that once inhabited North America, specifically the Southwestern United States, during the Pleistocene epoch. It was first described from three teeth with insufficient diagnostic characters, one even being suggested to be a separate taxon related to the American Zebra, leading some researchers to consider it a nomen dubium, though this taxonomic debate is yet to be fully resolved.

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References

  1. Gidley, James Williams (1901). "Tooth characters and revision of the North American species of the genus Equus". Bulletin of the AMNH. hdl:2246/1544.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. "†Equus giganteus Gidley 1901—Giant Horse".
  3. Eisenmann, Vera (2003). "Gigantic horses" (PDF). In Petculescu, Alexandru; Ştiucă, Emanoil (eds.). Advances in vertebrate paleontology 'Hen to Panta'. 'Emil Racoviţă' Institute of Speology. pp. 31–40. ISBN   978-973-0-02910-9. OCLC   895100716. S2CID   171086133.
  4. Cirilli, Omar; Machado, Helena; Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquin; Barrón-Ortiz, Christina I.; Davis, Edward; Jass, Christopher N.; Jukar, Advait M.; Landry, Zoe; Marín-Leyva, Alejandro H.; Pandolfi, Luca; Pushkina, Diana; Rook, Lorenzo; Saarinen, Juha; Scott, Eric; Semprebon, Gina (2022-08-24). "Evolution of the Family Equidae, Subfamily Equinae, in North, Central and South America, Eurasia and Africa during the Plio-Pleistocene (supplemental material)". Biology. 11 (9): 1258. doi: 10.3390/biology11091258 . ISSN   2079-7737. PMC   9495906 . PMID   36138737.