''Amerhippus'' is an extinct

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

horse of uncertain taxonomic identity. It is sometimes classified as a subgenus of the genus '' Equus'', containing several extinct species of horses that lived in South America, or a single, morphologically variable extinct species, ''Equus neogeus.''

Description

It lived from 2.588 to 0.012 Mya. It measured roughly tall and weighed approximately .

Distribution

They were one of two groups of equines in South America, alongside ''

Hippidion ''Hippidion'' (meaning ''little horse'') is an extinct genus of equine that lived in South America from the Late Pliocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene ( Lujanian), between two million and 11,000 years ago. They were one of two lineages of e ...

''. Fossils have been recovered from the Tarija Formation of Bolivia, the Serranía del Perijá in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, the Chiu-Chiu Formation of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, the

Sabana Formation The Sabana Formation ( es, Formación Sabana, Q1sa, QTs) is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists mainly of shales with at the edges of the Bogotá ...

of the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is situated in the Eastern Ran ...

in Colombia, and from various locations in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

Ecology

A 2019 study suggested that ''Equus neogeus'' was primarily a

grazer Grazer may refer to: *grazer, an animal that grazes *Grazer, a native or inhabitant of Graz *GRAZER, the shoegaze band GRAZER Astronomy * Earth Grazer, Earth-grazing fireball that enters the Earth's atmosphere and leaves again * Mercury grazer, ...

that fed on both C4 and C3 grasses in

prairies Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

and open woodlands.

Taxonomy

While they have formerly been referred to as belonging to 5 separate species, this has been revised down into three, and more recently a single, morphologically variable species ''Equus neogeus''. ''Equus'' first appeared in South America during the late Early Pleistocene around 1 Ma. A 2008 study of mitochondrial DNA fragments of a specimen of ''E. neogeus'' found it to be nested within mitochondrial lineages of '' E. caballus,'' however, later studies suggested that this result required more specimens to be analysed for confirmation. A close relationship to caballine horses was also supported by a 2019 morphological analysis study.

Gallery

File:Caballo sudamericano (Parque chuyaca - Osorno).jpg, Statue in Osorno, Chile File:South American Pleistocene equids.jpg, Restoration of hippidiforms with grazing ''Amerhippus'' in the background File:Amerhippus A6 digital.jpg, Photo-reconstruction of ''Equus (Amerhippus) andium'' from paleoartist Roman Uchytel

References

{{Equus Pleistocene horses Pleistocene mammals of South America Lujanian Ensenadan Uquian Pleistocene Bolivia Fossils of Bolivia Pleistocene Chile Fossils of Chile Pleistocene Colombia Fossils of Colombia Pleistocene Ecuador Fossils of Ecuador Pleistocene Venezuela Fossils of Venezuela Fossil taxa described in 1950 Taxa named by Robert Hoffstetter Animal subgenera Equus (genus)