PBDB Taxon

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Merychippus

Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Equidae

Taxonomy

Merychippus was named by Leidy (1856) [also said to be 1857; numerous authors around the turn of the century put the type species in Protohippus, but this ignored priority]. It is considered to be a form taxon. Its type is Merychippus insignis.

It was reranked as Protohippus (Merychippus) by Scott (1895).

It was assigned to Protohippus by Scott (1895); to Protohippinae by Gidley (1907); to Equidae by Leidy (1856), Leidy (1873), Scott (1913), Stirton (1940), Gazin and Collins (1950) and Carroll (1988); to Hipparionini by Quinn (1955) and Kelly (1995); and to Equinae by Hay (1902), Forsten (1975), Prothero and Schoch (1989), MacFadden (1998) and Bravo-Cuevas and Ferrusquía-Villafranca (2006).

Synonyms

Merychippus isonesus secundus was named by Osborn (1918) [named as a subspecies of M. isonesus by Osborn 1918; raised to species level; see also Stirton 1940b]. Its type specimen is AMNH 14179, a partial skeleton (Fragments of upper and lower jaws with most of the teeth and parts of skeleton), and it is a 3D body fossil.

It was recombined as Merychippus secundus by Abel (1928) and Simpson (1930); it was recombined as Merychippus (Protohippus) secundus by Stirton (1940); it was considered a nomen vanum by Skinner et al. (1977); it was considered a nomen dubium by Macdonald (1992).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1856	Merychippus Leidy
1873	Merychippus Leidy p. 322
1895	Protohippus (Merychippus) Scott p. 59
1902	Merychippus Hay p. 616
1907	Merychippus Gidley p. 867
1913	Merychippus Scott p. 290
1918	Merychippus isonesus secundus Osborn p. 105 figs. Plates 13.4, 41.1, 45.1,3, 46.1, 52.1. Text Fig. 79.
1928	Merychippus secundus Abel
1930	Merychippus secundus Simpson p. 166
1940	Merychippus Stirton p. 178
1940	Merychippus (Protohippus) secundus Stirton p. 181
1950	Merychippus Gazin and Collins p. 16
1955	Merychippus Quinn p. 58
1975	Merychippus Forsten p. 22
1988	Merychippus Carroll
1989	Merychippus Prothero and Schoch p. 531
1995	Merychippus Kelly p. 26
1998	Merychippus MacFadden p. 547
2006	Merychippus Bravo-Cuevas and Ferrusquía-Villafranca p. 776

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes

Rank	Name	Author
class	Mammalia
—	Theriamorpha	(Rowe 1993)
—	Theriiformes	()
—	Trechnotheria
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Boreoeutheria
—	Laurasiatheria
—	Scrotifera
—	Euungulata
—	Panperissodactyla
superorder	Perissodactylamorpha
order	Perissodactyla	()
superfamily	Equoidea
family	Equidae
subfamily	Equinae
genus	Merychippus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Merychippus Leidy 1856

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Subg. †Merychippus (Merychippus) Stirton 1940

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Invalid names: Merychippus (Merychippus) coalingensis Clark 1921 [nomen nudum]

Subg. †Merychippus (Protohippus) Leidy 1858

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†Merychippus (Protohippus) secundus Osborn 1918

†Merychippus brevidontus Bode 1935

†Merychippus calamarius Cope 1875

†Merychippus calamarius stylodontus Merriam 1919

†Merychippus californicus Merriam 1915