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Late Miocene Hipparion (Equidae, Perissodactyla) fossils from Fugu, northern Shaanxi, China, and their stratigraphic significance

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Abstract

We describe new material of Hipparion (Hippotherium) chiai from Fugu, northern Shaanxi, China. This collection represents the greatest number of skulls and mandibles of H. chiai that have been reported from a given locality. The late Miocene (7.8 Ma) occurrence of this species is an important chronological and palaeoecological reference for the Lamagou fauna. However, its slender limb bones and prototypical “spring foot” are derived traits that are more suited to rapid running and are a standard sign of adaptation to an open habitat. This also means that H. chiai was a grassland dweller that was well adapted to a cursorial lifestyle. Based on the ontogenetic sequence, we establish a new peer comparison framework for fossils of the same ontogenetic age. Using this peer comparison framework, we find that, compared with holotype specimens, H. chiai of the Lamagou fauna has a wider anterostyle, shorter protocone, weaker plications, rounder metastylid, and a deeper ectoflexid. These intraspecific variations reveal the evolutionary transition between the late Miocene and Pliocene Hipparion in the Old World, and these fossils can be seen as the final phase of H. chiai. These findings and the new peer comparison framework have broad applications to the systematic paleontology of hipparionine horses. This study supports the assertion that H. chiai is the most stable time indicator of the late Miocene Bahean age in northern China and has important stratigraphic significance.

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The datasets used or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Xiangxu Xue, Yunxiang Zhang, and Yongxiang Li of the Department of Geology at Northwest University for continual guidance and assistance; Yi Shen for figures; and Qigao Jiangzuo for helpful reviews of this paper. The reviewers and editors are kindly acknowledged for helpful comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42002007, 41902001), State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS) (No.193114).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, and Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an, China

    Yangfan Li & Hong Hua

  2. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS), Nanjing, China

    Yangfan Li

  3. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Boyang Sun & Tao Deng

  4. CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing, China

    Boyang Sun & Tao Deng

  5. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Boyang Sun & Tao Deng

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  1. Yangfan Li
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Contributions

Li YF and Sun BY wrote the main manuscript text. Li YF prepared Figs. 1, 2, and 5. Li YF and Sun BY repaired Figs. 3 and 4. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yangfan Li.

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Li, Y., Sun, B., Deng, T. et al. Late Miocene Hipparion (Equidae, Perissodactyla) fossils from Fugu, northern Shaanxi, China, and their stratigraphic significance. J Mammal Evol 30, 657–671 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-023-09674-4

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