PBDB Taxon

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Protohippus tantalus

Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Equidae

Taxonomy

Protohippus tantalus was named by Merriam (1913). Its type specimen is UCMP 19434 and 21221, a set of teeth (Two large upper cheek teeth), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Ricardo, which is in a Clarendonian terrestrial horizon in the Dove Spring Formation of California.

It was recombined as Pliohippus (Pliohippus) tantalus by Stirton (1940); it was synonymized subjectively with Pliohippus fairbanksi by MacFadden (1998); it was considered a nomen dubium by Macdonald (1992); it was recombined as Pliohippus tantalus by Merriam (1913), Merriam (1915), Osborn (1918), Kelly (1995) and Kelly (1998).

Synonyms

Pliohippus fairbanksi was named by Merriam (1915). Its type specimen is UCMP 19789, a tooth (a large unworn upper cheek-tooth p4?), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Ricardo, which is in a Clarendonian terrestrial horizon in the Dove Spring Formation of California.

It was synonymized subjectively with Pliohippus (Pliohippus) tantalus by Stirton (1940); it was considered a nomen dubium by Matthew and Stirton (1930) and Macdonald (1992); it was synonymized subjectively with Pliohippus tantalus by VanderHoof (1933), Gregory (1942), Whistler (1991), Whistler and Burbank (1992), Kelly (1995) and Kelly (1998).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1913	Pliohippus tantalus Merriam
1913	Protohippus tantalus Merriam p. 440 fig. 4
1915	Pliohippus fairbanksi Merriam
1915	Pliohippus tantalus Merriam p. 54
1915	Pliohippus fairbanksi Merriam p. 55 figs. 8a - 8c
1918	Pliohippus tantalus Osborn p. 162 figs. Text Fig. ,130
1918	Pliohippus fairbanksi Osborn p. 164 figs. Text Fig. 131
1940	Pliohippus (Pliohippus) tantalus Stirton p. 192
1995	Pliohippus tantalus Kelly p. 14
1998	Pliohippus tantalus Kelly p. 11
1998	Pliohippus fairbanksi MacFadden p. 550

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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
class	Mammalia

Rank	Name	Author
—	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
tribe	Equini
genus	Protohippus	()
species	tantalus

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.

†Protohippus tantalus Merriam 1913

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Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
H. F. Osborn 1918	(Merriam, 1913, p. 440) (1) Protocone and protoconule united; (2) crown curved; (3) fossettes large, wide, with complicated enamel on both borders of the metaloph, and with single projections into pre- and post-fossettes; (4) a single crochet fold in the prefossette; (5) a pli caballin; (6) outer styles heavy and narrow, noticeably above the base.