Equus

Equus is a genus of mammals in the perissodactyl 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.

Equus

LittleJerry ; JPG by uploader · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
horsePBDB
Sits inside
EquiniPBDB
Diet
grazerPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 1677 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 8 of 1677 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 154 of 1677 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1455 of 1677 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 10 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 55 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 73 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 270 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 380 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 881 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

1,677 occurrences of Equus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

1,677 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

153 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.31°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.23°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.94°N, 36.25°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.38°EKoobi Fora — 4.06°N, 36.33°E"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WShungura — 5.04°N, 36.00°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 4.15°N, 35.74°ENachukui — 4.67°N, 35.75°ENachukui — 4.19°N, 35.77°ENachukui — 4.00°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.10°N, 35.77°EDevakachar — 23.01°N, 79.11°EDevakachar — 22.90°N, 77.88°EDevakachar — 25.01°N, 79.12°EDevakachar — 22.83°N, 77.97°EDevakachar — 23.03°N, 79.02°EDevakachar — 22.84°N, 77.87°EDevakachar — 25.85°N, 77.90°EDevakachar — 23.11°N, 79.59°EKingsdown — 37.05°N, 100.50°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WSt. David — 31.97°N, 110.30°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.63°N, 117.89°WPauba — 33.90°N, 117.00°WOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EGlenns Ferry — 43.60°N, 116.80°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 115.70°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 118.00°WOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°EBermont — 28.80°N, 82.20°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WBermont — 26.90°N, 82.00°WBermont — 27.00°N, 82.20°WMbuga Clays — 4.03°S, 33.78°EMbuga Clays — 3.98°S, 33.93°EMbuga Clays — 3.90°S, 33.73°EMbuga Clays — 3.92°S, 33.87°EMbuga Clays — 3.88°S, 33.97°EMbuga Clays — 3.90°S, 33.75°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.93°N, 1.30°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ECamp Rice — 32.00°N, 106.70°WCamp Rice — 31.50°N, 105.20°WCamp Rice — 32.65°N, 107.23°WHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°ELove — 31.50°N, 105.20°WChapala — 20.30°N, 103.20°WTule — 34.50°N, 101.70°WTule — 34.50°N, 101.30°WTule — 34.51°N, 101.41°WAlamosa — 37.37°N, 105.75°WOcotillo — 32.90°N, 117.10°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Equus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 129 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,000 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Equus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Equus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

642 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1,338 sites for Equus, 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

636 references

Each of the 1,677 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. 624 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 content4

Picture of Equus

Credit
LittleJerry ; JPG by uploader
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D scan

Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
Commercial use
the licence allows it
Specimen
Equus quagga burchelli

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Equus sp. · msn_fir:mgp:IGF_dente_Equus

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itEquini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758