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. It is more specifically grouped within the superfamily Equoidea, the only other family being the extinct Palaeotheriidae.
Perissodactyla is an order of ungulates. The order includes about 17 living species divided into three families: Equidae, Rhinocerotidae (rhinoceroses), and Tapiridae (tapirs). They typically have reduced the weight-bearing toes to three or one of the five original toes, though tapirs retain four toes on their front feet. The nonweight-bearing toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or positioned posteriorly. By contrast, artiodactyls bear most of their weight equally on four or two of the five toes: their third and fourth toes. Another difference between the two is that perissodactyls digest plant cellulose in their intestines, rather than in one or more stomach chambers as artiodactyls, with the exception of Suina, do.
The quagga is an extinct subspecies of the plains zebra that was endemic to South Africa until it was hunted to extinction in the late 19th century. It was long thought to be a distinct species, but early genetic studies have supported it being a subspecies of plains zebra. A more recent study suggested that it was the southernmost cline or ecotype of the species.
The onager (Equus hemionus), also known as hemione or Asiatic wild ass, is a species of the family Equidae native to Asia. A member of the subgenus Asinus, the onager was described and given its binomial name by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1775. Six subspecies have been recognized, two of which are extinct.
The plains zebra is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. Its range is fragmented, but spans much of southern and eastern Africa south of the Sahara. Six or seven subspecies have been recognised, including the extinct quagga which was thought to be a separate species. More recent research supports variations in zebra populations being clines rather than subspecies.
The dire wolf is an extinct canine. The dire wolf lived in the Americas during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs. The species was named in 1858, four years after the first specimen had been found. Two subspecies are recognized: Aenocyon dirus guildayi and Aenocyon dirus dirus. The largest collection of its fossils has been obtained from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
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 originated in North America and dispersed into the Old World and South America during the Early and Middle Pleistocene. 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.
The American lion, with the species name meaning "savage" or "cruel", also called the North American lion) is an extinct pantherine cat native to North America during the Late Pleistocene from around 130,000 to 12,800 years ago. Genetic evidence suggests that its closest living relative is the lion, with the American lion representing an offshoot from the lineage of the largely Eurasian cave lion, from which it is suggested to have split around 165,000 years ago. Its fossils have been found across North America, from Canada to Mexico. It was about 25% larger than the modern lion, making it one of the largest known felids to ever exist, and an important apex predator.
Miracinonyx is an extinct genus of felids belonging to the subfamily Felinae that was endemic to North America from the Pleistocene epoch and morphologically similar to the modern cheetah, although its apparent similar ecological niches have been considered questionable due to anatomical morphologies of the former that would have limited the ability to act as a specialized pursuit predator. The genus was originally known from fragments of skeletons, but nearly complete skeletons have been recovered from Natural Trap Cave in northern Wyoming.
Equus scotti is an extinct species of horse native to Pleistocene North America.
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.
Bison antiquus, the antique bison or ancient bison, is an extinct species of bison that lived in Late Pleistocene North America until around 10,000 years ago. Bison antiquus was one of the most common large herbivores in Late Pleistocene North America. It is a direct ancestor of the living American bison.
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.
Equus simplicidens, sometimes known as the Hagerman horse or the American zebra is an extinct species in the horse family native to North America during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. It is one of the oldest and most primitive members of the genus Equus. It is the state fossil of Idaho, where its abundant remains were discovered in 1928, specifically in Hagerman, Idaho. They are also known from other US states including Arizona, California, Texas, Nebraska and Kansas.
Nannippus is an extinct genus of three-toed horse endemic to North America during the Miocene through Pleistocene, about 13.3—1.8 million years ago (Mya), living around 11.5 million years. This ancient species of three-toed horse grew up to 3.5 feet and weighed between 165 pounds to 199 pounds, which was around the same size as a domestic sheep.
Burnet Cave is an important archaeological and paleontological site located in Eddy County, New Mexico, United States within the Guadalupe Mountains about 26 miles west of Carlsbad.
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.
Equus neogeus is an extinct species of equine native to South America during the Pleistocene. It was formerly thought to be several distinct species within the subgenus Amerhippus, but was later shown to be a single morphologically variable species. It is thought to be closely related to true horses.
A list of prehistoric and extinct species whose fossils have been found in the La Brea Tar Pits, located in present-day Hancock Park, a city park on the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire district in Los Angeles, California.
The giant horse is an extinct species of horse which lived in North America.
