Calippus (mammal)

Calippus is an extinct genus of hoofed mammals in the horse family (Equidae), known from the Middle Miocene through the Early Pliocene of North and Central America. Fossils have been found in the Central United States and the Eastern United States, ranging south to Honduras.^[1][2] These equines had high crowned teeth and a quadrangular, wide muzzle, and were small compared to their contemporary relatives,^[3] with C. elachistus weighing 49 kg, C. cerasinus weighing 102 kg,^[4] 132 kg for C. theristes and 73 kg for C. mccartyi.^[5]

Calippus Temporal range: Barstovian–Blancan ~16–1.8 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
C. placidus skull, American Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Equidae
Subfamily:	Equinae
Tribe:	Equini
Genus:	†Calippus Matthew & Stirton 1930
Type species
Calippus placidus (Leidy, 1858)
Species
C. martini Hesse 1936 C. regulus Johnston 1937

References

1. Hulbert, Richard C. Jr. (1988). "Calippus and Protohippus (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Equidae) from the Miocene (Barstovian-Early Hemphillian) of the Gulf Coastal Plain" (PDF). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum Biological Sciences. 32 (3): 221–340.
2. "Calippus Matthew and Stirton 1930". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
3. altondooley (2010-12-13). "From the collections room (Calippus)". Updates from the Paleontology Lab. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
4. Ungulates from Late Miocene Love Bone Bed. In: Body size in mammalian paleobiology: estimation and biological implications. JD Damuth & BJ MacFadden. Cambridge University Press (1990).
5. David Lambert, W. (2006). "Functional Convergence of Ecosystems: Evidence from Body Mass Distributions of North American Late Miocene Mammal Faunas". Ecosystems. 9 (9): 97–118. Bibcode:2006Ecosy...9...97L. doi:10.1007/s10021-005-0076-8. S2CID 30660487.