Hyracotherium
Hyracotherium was previously called Eohippus (meaning "dawn horse"). It is a Eurasian species, a Palaeothere. That group is ancestral to the horses and brontotheres.[1][2] Therefore, it is not the same animal as Eohippus, which is the earliest horse.
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| Genus: | Hyracotherium Owen, 1841
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?Eohippus Marsh, 1876 | |
Hyracotherium lived during the early Eocene epoch, about 55–45 million years ago. It lived in the northern hemisphere in Asia and Europe. The first fossils of this tiny animal were found in England by Richard Owen in 1841 and named Hyracotherium.
The original type species H. leporinum is now regarded as an Eohippus. So that name has been brought back to describe the early proto-horse found in North America.[1]
Hyracotherium Media
Size comparison between Hyracotherium and a domestic cat.
Owen’s illustration of the first Hyracotherium fossil found, holotype BMNH M16336.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Froehlich D.J. (2002). "Quo vadis eohippus? The systematics and taxonomy of the early Eocene equids (Perissodactyla)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 134 (2): 141–256. doi:10.1046/j.1096-3642.2002.00005.x.
- ↑ Hooker J.J. (1994). "The beginning of the equoid radiation". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 112 (1–2): 29–63. doi:10.1006/zjls.1994.1033.