Anchitheriinae

Anchitheriinae is an extinct subfamily of the horse family Equidae. The group is suggested to be paraphyletic as a whole, representing various early offshoots of the lineage leading to Equinae, though the tribe Anchitheriini represents a monophyletic group. The group first appeared in North America during the late Eocene, around 40 million years ago, subsequently radiating and reaching a peak of diversity by the end of the Eocene, around 34 million years ago, underdoing a slight decline during the Oligocene, with members of Anchitheriini dispersing across the Bering Land Bridge to Eurasia during the Early Miocene, around 19 million years ago, subsequently dispersing as far westward as Western Europe, though they never appear to have reached Africa. Anchitheres reached a maximum diversity of 15 concurrent species in the mid Miocene, around 15.5 million years ago, however following apex this they underwent continual decline, with Anchitheriini becoming extinct around the late Miocene, approximately 10 million years ago in North America and 9 million years ago in Eurasia, which followed the arrival of hipparionine equines into the Old World from North America.

Anchitheriinae

Osborn. · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
anchitheriine horsePBDB
Sits inside
EquidaePBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Equidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Equidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 31 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Eocene — about 65 of 665 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 123 of 665 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 474 of 665 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 665 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 665 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 5 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 12 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 23 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 23 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 27 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 19 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 11 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 11 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 11 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 13 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 13 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 15 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 19 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 19 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 22 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 47 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 71 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 73 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 75 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 69 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 29 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 25 occurrences9.8–8.5 Mya — about 14 occurrences8.5–7.1 Mya — about 7 occurrences7.1–5.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.8–4.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.5–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–1.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences37 Mya5.333 Mya41.8 Mya1.8 Mya

665 occurrences of Anchitheriinae on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

665 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

97 formations

Valentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.49°N, 98.11°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 40.10°N, 98.50°WValentine — 42.60°N, 98.00°WBrule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 46.90°N, 102.80°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WBrule — 42.00°N, 104.20°WBrule — 43.85°N, 102.50°WBrule — 43.60°N, 102.45°WBrule — 43.50°N, 101.90°WBrule — 46.40°N, 103.30°WBrule — 41.70°N, 103.10°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.60°N, 119.62°WJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.65°WJohn Day — 44.76°N, 121.26°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 121.30°WJohn Day — 44.83°N, 119.76°WJohn Day — 44.50°N, 119.30°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WBarstow — 35.07°N, 117.08°WBarstow — 35.05°N, 117.07°WMascall — 44.20°N, 120.50°WMascall — 44.50°N, 119.30°WMascall — 44.00°N, 120.13°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WCypress Hills — 49.80°N, 109.00°WCypress Hills — 49.70°N, 109.00°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 109.00°WCypress Hills — 49.80°N, 109.20°WOakville — 30.10°N, 96.10°WOakville — 30.30°N, 95.70°WOakville — 30.75°N, 95.22°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WRenova — 45.00°N, 112.80°WRenova — 45.20°N, 112.00°WRenova — 46.00°N, 112.00°WRenova — 45.90°N, 112.25°WRenova — 46.65°N, 113.05°WRenova — 46.40°N, 112.80°WChadron — 43.60°N, 102.45°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.10°WChadron — 45.47°N, 112.62°WChadron — 46.10°N, 103.30°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WSharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°WSheep Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.39°N, 98.10°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 41.20°N, 101.80°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 105.10°WTemblor — 36.10°N, 120.40°WTemblor — 35.46°N, 118.92°WTemblor — 36.54°N, 120.55°WHarrison — 43.30°N, 102.50°WHarrison — 42.00°N, 104.20°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WHarrison — 43.00°N, 104.50°WWood Mountain — 49.20°N, 106.20°WWood Mountain — 49.17°N, 105.99°WTorreya — 30.61°N, 84.25°WTorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°WTorreya — 30.30°N, 84.20°WTesuque — 36.50°N, 107.00°WTesuque — 35.50°N, 106.20°WChambers Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WBox Butte — 42.20°N, 103.10°WBox Butte — 42.80°N, 103.10°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 37.66°N, 77.11°WBopesta — 35.19°N, 118.28°WBopesta — 35.30°N, 118.50°WPawnee Creek — 40.80°N, 104.20°WPawnee Creek — 40.90°N, 103.28°WFleming — 31.00°N, 93.40°WFleming — 30.50°N, 95.00°WFleming — 30.70°N, 94.70°W

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The named rock units Anchitheriinae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 73 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 196 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Anchitheriinae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Anchitheriinae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,441 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 511 sites for Anchitheriinae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

255 references

Each of the 665 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 243 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Anchitheriinae

Credit
Osborn.
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Anchitheriinae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEquidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Leidy 1869)