Pliohippus

Pliohippus is an extinct genus of Equidae, the horse family. Pliohippus arose in the middle Miocene, around 15 million years ago. The long and slim limbs of Pliohippus reveal a quick-footed steppe animal. While some specimens have one toe per leg, others have three.

Pliohippus

Claire H. from New York City, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
Sits inside
EquiniPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Equinae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 8.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 13.82 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 157 occurrencesMiocene — about 151 of 157 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 157 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 157 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 4 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 14 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 22 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 22 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 22 occurrences9.9–9.2 Mya — about 18 occurrences9.2–8.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences8.5–7.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.1–6.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.4–5.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.7–4.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13.82 Mya5.333 Mya23.5 Mya2.1 Mya

157 occurrences of Pliohippus 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

157 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

35 formations

MR Caliente — 34.30°N, 119.00°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 40.10°N, 98.50°WValentine — 43.20°N, 99.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.39°N, 98.10°WAsh Hollow — 42.60°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 41.70°N, 103.10°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 41.20°N, 101.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 100.00°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 41.40°N, 102.40°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WNS Caliente — 34.30°N, 119.00°WHungry Valley — 34.71°N, 118.81°WDove Spring — 35.30°N, 118.50°WDove Spring — 35.37°N, 117.99°WGoliad — 28.60°N, 97.70°WGoliad — 28.34°N, 97.96°WGoliad — 28.49°N, 97.67°WOgallala — 39.80°N, 99.40°WOgallala — 35.88°N, 99.85°WOgallala — 39.95°N, 99.53°WCaliente — 34.30°N, 119.00°WCaliente — 35.10°N, 120.00°WPeace Valley Beds — 34.71°N, 118.81°WClarendon Beds — 35.02°N, 100.82°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WStatenville — 30.40°N, 83.00°WEsmeralda — 38.25°N, 117.90°WEsmeralda — 37.96°N, 118.03°WTesuque — 36.50°N, 107.00°WTesuque — 35.50°N, 106.20°WSanta Fe — 35.70°N, 107.00°WSanta Fe — 36.50°N, 107.00°WMehrten — 37.79°N, 120.77°WMehrten — 37.60°N, 120.80°Wreferred Chamita — 36.50°N, 107.00°WEtchegoin — 36.27°N, 120.30°WCoetas — 35.40°N, 101.90°WPawnee Creek — 40.80°N, 104.20°WBridwell — 33.70°N, 101.10°WSnake Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WLaverne — 36.80°N, 100.50°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Pliohippus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 36 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pliohippus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Pliohippus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

622 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 151 sites for Pliohippus, 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

55 references

Each of the 157 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. 43 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 content3

Picture of Pliohippus

Credit
Claire H. from New York City, USA
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Pliohippus pernix · unsm:52297

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1874