Dinohippus
| Dinohippus Temporal range: Late Miocene–Late Pliocene |
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| Dinohippus leidyanus skeleton | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Equidae |
| Subfamily: | Equinae |
| Tribe: | Equini |
| Genus: |
†Dinohippus Quinn, 1955 |
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Dinohippus (Greek: Terrible horse) is an extinct herbivorous mammal belonging to the tribe Equini, subfamily Equinae, which was endemic to North America from the late Hemphillian stage of the Miocene through the Zanclean stage of the Pliocene (10.3—3.6 mya) and in existence for approximately 6.7 million years.
Dinohippus was named by Quinn in 1955 and assigned to Equidae by Quinn that same year, by B. J. MacFadden (1986) and R. L. Carroll (1988); and to Equini by MacFadden.
It was the most common horse in North America and like Equus, Dinohippus did not have a dished face. It has a distinctive passive "stay apparatus," formed by bones and tendons, to help it conserve energy while standing for long periods. Dinohippus is the first horse to show a rudimentary form of this character, providing additional evidence of the close relationship between Dinohippus and Equus.Dinohippus was originally thought to be a monodactyl horse, but a 1981 fossil find in Nebraska shows that some were tridactyl.
Three specimens were examined for body mass by M. Mendoza, C. M. Janis, and P. Palmqvist as well as M. T. Alberdi, J. L. Prado, and E. Ortiz-Jaureguizar.
Fossil distribution is widespread throughout North America with more than 30 sites from Florida to Alberta, Canada to Central Mexico.
Dinohippus interpolatus (synonymized with Pliohippus bakeri), D. leardi, D. leidyanus (syn. Pliohippus edensis, Pliohippus osborni)
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