Merychippus californicus

Merychippus californicus

via iDigBio · via iDigBio. 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
Sits inside
MerychippusPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Equinae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Equinae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 870 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 12.5 Mya to 11.63 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 6 occurrencesMiocene — about 6 of 6 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 6 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.8–9.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.2–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–8.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.0–7.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.3–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.1–5.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.5–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12.5 Mya – 11.63 Mya23.5 Mya4.8 Mya

6 occurrences of Merychippus californicus 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

6 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

3 formations

Peace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WTemblor — 36.10°N, 120.40°WTemblor — 36.54°N, 120.55°WVirgin Valley — 41.10°N, 117.80°W

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The named rock units Merychippus californicus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Merychippus californicus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Merychippus californicus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

80 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Merychippus californicus, and this reads all 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

4 references

Each of the 6 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. 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 Merychippus californicus

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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

Keep going

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

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Merriam 1915)