PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Mesohippus

Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Equidae

Taxonomy

Mesohippus was named by Marsh (1875).

It was assigned to Palaeotheriinae by Cope (1881); to Equidae by Marsh (1875), Lambe (1908), Scott (1913), Stirton (1940), Johnson (1966), Carroll (1988) and Prothero and Schoch (1989); and to Anchitheriinae by Osborn and Wortman (1895), Gidley (1907) and MacFadden (1998).

Species

M. bairdi (syn. M. viejensis, M. hypostylus, M. proteulophus, M. portentus), M. barbouri, M. celer, M. cuneatus, M. exoletus (syn. M. trigonostylus), M. latidens, M. propinquus, M. texanus, M. westoni (syn. M. praecocidens, M. montanensis)

Synonyms

Anchitherium cuneatum was named by Cope (1873).

It was synonymized subjectively with Mesohippus bairdi by Osborn and Wortman (1895), Matthew (1899) and Osborn (1904); it was recombined as Miohippus cuneatus by Hay (1902); it was recombined as Mesohippus cuneatus by Hay (1930), Stirton (1940) and Scott (1941); it was considered a nomen dubium by Osborn (1918) and Macdonald (1992).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1873	Anchitherium cuneatum Cope p. 7
1875	Mesohippus Marsh
1881	Mesohippus Cope p. 399
1895	Mesohippus Osborn and Wortman p. 352
1902	Miohippus cuneatus Hay p. 614
1907	Mesohippus Gidley p. 867
1908	Mesohippus Lambe
1913	Mesohippus Scott p. 290
1930	Mesohippus cuneatus Hay
1940	Mesohippus Stirton p. 169
1940	Mesohippus cuneatus Stirton p. 170
1941	Mesohippus cuneatus Scott
1966	Mesohippus Johnson p. 80
1988	Mesohippus Carroll
1989	Mesohippus Prothero and Schoch p. 531
1998	Mesohippus MacFadden p. 544

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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	Anchitheriinae	()
genus	Mesohippus

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. †Mesohippus Marsh 1875

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†Mesohippus bairdi Leidy 1850

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Invalid names: Mesohippus hypostylus Osborn 1904 [synonym], Mesohippus proteulophus Osborn 1904 [synonym], Mesohippus viejensis Clark and Beerbower 1967 [synonym]

†Mesohippus barbouri Schlaikjer 1931

†Mesohippus celer Marsh 1874

†Mesohippus exoletus Cope 1874

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Invalid names: Mesohippus trigonostylus Osborn 1918 [synonym]

†Mesohippus latidens Douglass 1903

†Mesohippus propinquus Lambe 1905

†Mesohippus texanus McGrew 1971

†Mesohippus westoni Cope 1889

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Invalid names: Mesohippus montanensis Osborn 1904 [synonym], Mesohippus praecocidens Lambe 1905 [synonym]

Invalid names: Mesohippus cuneatus Cope 1873 [nomen dubium]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

terrestrialsubc

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Life habit:

ground dwellingf

Diet:

browserf

Reproduction:

viviparoussubc

Created:

2005-06-08 10:11:09

Modified:

2005-08-31 16:55:50

Source: f = family, subc = subclass, c = class, subp = subphylum

References: Nowak 1991, Carroll 1988, Hendy et al. 2009, Lillegraven 1979, Ji et al. 2002

Age range: base of the Early/Lower Chadronian to the top of the Whitneyan or 37.20000 to 30.80000 Ma

Collections (76 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Duchesnean	39.7 - 37.0	USA (California)	M. sp. (17039)
Duchesnean	39.7 - 37.0	USA (Texas)	M. sp., M. texanus (16828) M. texanus (16829 16830 16831 16835 16843 16851 16863)
Duchesnean - Chadronian	39.7 - 33.9	Canada (Saskatchewan)	M. sp. (17020)
Duchesnean - Chadronian	39.7 - 33.9	USA (Montana)	M. sp. (16840)
Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (Nebraska)	M. bairdi (16918) M. hypostylus (16929)
Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (Texas)	M. texanus (16931 17016)
Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (North Dakota)	M. propinquus, M. westoni (16991)
Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	Canada (Saskatchewan)	M. propinquus, M. westoni (16919) M. sp. (16979 17023) M. westoni (16893)
Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (Montana)	M. hypostylus (16915 16924 16925) M. latidens (17028) M. montanensis (17010) M. sp. (16927 16990) M. westoni (16988)
Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (Colorado)	M. proteulophus (16977) M. sp. (16968)
Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (South Dakota)	M. celer, M. hypostylus, M. viejensis (16885) M. exoletus, M. celer (17006) M. latidens (16938)
Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	Mexico (Chihuahua)	M. sp. (17015)
Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (Wyoming)	M. celer (17045) M. hypostylus (16951 16952 16954 16956 16957) M. montanensis (16920) M. westoni (17011)
Early/Lower Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (Montana)	M. sp. (27245)
Late/Upper Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	Canada (Saskatchewan)	M. bairdi (16981)
Late/Upper Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (Montana)	M. sp. (17027)
Late/Upper Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (Colorado)	M. sp. (85117)
Middle Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	Canada (Saskatchewan)	M. propinquus, M. westoni (16928)
Middle Chadronian - Late/Upper Chadronian	37.2 - 33.9	USA (Colorado)	M. sp. (156988)
Orellan	33.9 - 33.3	USA (Oregon)	M. bairdi (17070)
Orellan	33.9 - 33.3	USA (Wyoming)	M. bairdi (17116)
Orellan	33.9 - 33.3	USA (Nebraska)	M. bairdi (17062 17098 17164 17165)
Orellan	33.9 - 33.3	USA (South Dakota)	M. bairdi (17102 17153 17162 17173 17174 17180) M. bairdii (17088 17094 17133 17296) M. exoletus (17141) M. sp. (17089 163487) Miohippus bairdii (17115)
Orellan	33.9 - 33.3	Canada (Saskatchewan)	M. bairdi (17055 17111)
Orellan	33.9 - 33.3	USA (Montana)	M. hypostylus (17109 17154) M. sp. (17090 17138)
Orellan	33.9 - 33.3	USA (North Dakota)	M. bairdi (17101)
Whitneyan	33.3 - 30.8	USA (Oregon)	M. sp. (17349)