Anchitherium Temporal range: Miocene |
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Anchitherium aurelianense, Hypohippus equinus, Merychippus sejunctus, and M. sphenodus fossils in Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Perissodactyla |
Family: | Equidae |
Subfamily: | †Anchitheriinae |
Genus: |
Anchitherium von Meyer, 1844 |
Type species | |
Anchitherium ezquerrae |
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Species | |
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Anchitherium (meaning near beast) was a fossil horse with a three-toed hoof.
Anchitherium was a browsing (leaf eating) horse that originated in the early Miocene of North America and subsequently dispersed to Europe and Asia, where it gave rise to the larger bodied genus Sinohippus. It was around 60 centimetres (6.0 hands) high at the shoulder, and probably represented a side-branch of horse evolution that left no modern descendants.