Phylogenetic Significance of the Postcranial Skeletons of the Hipparions from Maragheh (Late Miocene), Northwest Iran

Abstract

The postcranial samples of Hipparion (Equidae, Perissodactyla) collected by the Paleontological Expedition of Kyoto University in 1973 from Maragheh, northwest Iran were compared with other materials stored in other institutes in Europe. Three morphotypes could be distinguished in the third metapodials by their size and proportions. They are: 1) medium to large robust morphotype; 2) large and slender morphotype; and 3) small and slender morphotype. The first morphotype corresponds to H. prostylum, the second to H. urmiense, and the third to H. moldavicum recognized in the same locality by cranial materials. It is crucial procedure for taxonomy and phylogenetic analysis of extensively deversified Late Miocene Hipparion in Eurasia to make clear association in a single taxon between cranial and postcranial morphotypes from a fossil locality, resulting the increase of morphological characters and data on the functional tie between facial and locomotory features.