Cormohipparion

Cormohipparion Temporal range: Late Miocene–Pliocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Cormohipparion and Teleoceras in the Ashfall Fossil Beds
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Equidae
Subfamily:	Equinae
Genus:	†Cormohipparion Skinner & MacFadden, 1977
Type species
†Hipparion occidentale
Subgenera and Species
†Cormohipparion †C. (C.) fricki Woodburne, 2007 †C. (C.) goorisi MacFadden and Skinner, 1981 †C. (C.) johnsoni Woodburne, 2007 †C. (C.) matthewi Woodburne, 2007 †C. (C.) merriami Woodburne, 2007 †C. (C.) occidentale (Leidy, 1856) (type) †C. (C.) quinni Woodburne, 1996 †C. (C.) skinneri Woodburne, 2007 †Notiocradohipparion †C. (N.) plicatile (Leidy, 1887) †C. (N.) ingenuum (Leidy, 1885) †C. (N.) emsliei Hulbert, 1988

Cormohipparion is an extinct genus of horse belonging to the tribe Hipparionini that lived in North America during the late Miocene to Pliocene (Barstovian-Hemphilian).

Taxonomy

The genus Cormohipparion was coined for the extinct hipparionin horse "Equus" occidentale, described by Joseph Leidy in 1856.^[1] However it was soon argued that the partial material fell within the range of morphological variation seen in Hipparion, and that the members of Cormohipparion belonged instead within Hipparion.^[2] This rested on claims that pre-orbital morphology did not have any taxonomic significance, a claim that detailed study of quarry sections later showed to be false.^[3] A reappraisal of many horse genera was thus conducted in 1984,^[4] and the proposed synonymy was not acknowledged by later literature.^[5]

The genus is considered to represent an ancestor to Hippotherium.^[6] Its fossils have been recovered from as far south as Mexico.^[7]

References