Hippotherium is an Extinction genus of Equidae that lived during the Miocene through Pliocene ~13.65—6.7 Mya, existing for .
The last Knowledge surviving Hippotherium was H. malpassii, found in Italy.
Species
The type species,
H. primigenium, is known from Miocene deposits in Europe (e.g., the
Hegau region in southern Germany)
and the Middle East, while the species
H. koenigswaldi and
H. catalaunicum have been found in Miocene deposits in Spain. The Asian hipparionin
"Hipparion" weihoense from early Late Miocene deposits in northern China has also been referred to the genus.
[ Armin Scherzinger, Johanne Baier, Günter Schweigert, & Roland Berka (2024): Zur Entstehung der Höwenegg-Vulkangruppe und der Höwenegg-Schichten im Hegau. Jh. Ges. Naturkde. Württemberg. 180: 501–528. ]
Diet
H. primigenium was a generalist feeder which frequently browsed but could also exploit
grasses.
The dental mesowear of
H. primigenium reveals that it lived in both open environments such as reed flats and closed environments such as mesophytic forests.
In the arid
Pannonian Basin,
Hippotherium is known to have migrated to make use of water sources with a high elevation origin, particularly from the nearby
Vienna Basin.
Fossil distribution
-
Doue-la-Fontaine France estimated age: ~13.65—7.25 Mya.
-
Lower Bakhtiari Formation, northern Iraq, estimated age: ~11.6—9.0 Mya.
-
Kurtchuk-Tchekmedje, Turkey estimated age: ~11.61—5.33 Mya.
