Equus conversidens

Equus conversidens, or the Mexican horse, was a Pleistocene species of horse, now extinct, that inhabited North America.

Life restoration

Equus conversidens Temporal range: 2.588–0.009 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Equidae
Genus:	Equus
Subgenus:	incertae sedis
Species:	†E. conversidens
Binomial name
†Equus conversidens Owen, 1869
Synonyms
Asinus conversidens (Owen, 1869)[1][2] Equus barcenaei Cope 1884[2][1] Equus barcenoei Cope 1884[2][1] Equus (Hemionus) conversidens [2] Onager zoyatalis Mooser 1959[2][1]

The holotype of Equus conversidens, a partial palate, was unearthed in Pleistocene deposits northeast of Mexico City, Mexico. In January 1963, a partial skeleton was found in the city of Canyon, Texas in a white clay bed during the excavation of a basement, and was referred to E. conversidens by Dalquest and Hughes (1965), who interpreted the species as medium to small-sized, and added additional records of the species from Texas (including a skeleton from Slaton), Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Florida, synonymizing Equus francisci, Equus tau, E. littoralis, E. achates, and E. barcenaei with E. conversidens.^[3]

Criticism

Winans (1985) and MacFadden (1992) challenged the validity of E. conversidens due to its minimal diagnostic value, and treated E. francisci as valid.^[4][5] Heintzman, et al. (2017) argue that it is in not a member of the Equus genus.^[6]

See also

• Evolution of the horse
• Equus alaskae