''Equus suessenbornensis'' is an extinct species of large equine native to Western Eurasia, including Europe, during the

Early Pleistocene The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial epoch (geology), sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently esti ...

to early

Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, more widely known as the Middle Pleistocene (its previous informal name), is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocen ...

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1900 based on remains found at the Sussenborn locality in Germany,E. Wüst "Untersuchungen über das Pliozan und das Alteste Pleistozan Thüringens, nordlich vom Thüringer Walde und westlich von der Saale" Abhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft zu Halle, 23 (1900), pp. 1–352 dating to the early

, around 640–620,000 years ago. Many authors have argued that ''Equus suessenbornensis'' should be considered related to other "stenonine" equines from the Early Pleistocene of Europe, such as ''

Equus stenonis ''Equus stenonis'' is an extinct species of equine that lived in Western Eurasia including Europe during the Early Pleistocene. Taxonomy and evolution The species was first named in 1867, with the type specimen being IGF 560, a skull with a n ...

,'' though some authors have argued it should be classified in the subgenus ''Sussemionus.'' Recent authors have proposed a particularly close relationship to ''

Equus major ''Equus major'' is an extinct species of large equine native to Europe during the Early Pleistocene epoch. Taxonomy The species was first recognised as ''Equus stenonis'' race ''major'' in 1893 by Delafond and Depéret, 1893 based on remains fo ...

,'' a "stenonine" equine known from the first half of the Early Pleistocene in Europe.

Description

''Equus suessenbornensis'' was a large sized equine having an estimated body mass over , with some individuals exceeding making it larger than any other known "stenonine" other than ''Equus major''. The species is distinguished from other equines by a number of characters of the morphology of the teeth. The

metapodial Metapodials are long bone The long bones are those that are longer than they are wide. They are one of five types of bones: long, short, flat, irregular and sesamoid. Long bones, especially the femur and tibia, are subjected to most of the l ...

bones of the feet tend to be elongate, with a large

diaphysis The diaphysis (: diaphyses) is the main or midsection (shaft) of a long bone. It is made up of cortical bone and usually contains bone marrow and adipose tissue (fat). It is a middle tubular part composed of compact bone which surrounds a centr ...

(midsection) and wide

epiphyses An epiphysis (; : epiphyses) is one of the rounded ends or tips of a long bone that ossify from one or more secondary centers of ossification. Between the epiphysis and diaphysis (the long midsection of the long bone) lies the metaphysis, inc ...

(end sections).

Distribution and chronology

''Equuss suessenbornensis'' is known from remains found across Europe, spanning from Britain, France and Spain in the west, eastwards to Italy and Greece, and northwards to Germany and the Czech Republic, with possible remains being known from Moldova. Remains are also known from the Akhalkalaki site in Georgia in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. The chronology of the species spans from the mid-Early Pleistocene around 1.5 million years ago, until the early Middle Pleistocene, around 600,000 years ago, around the time of arrival of caballine true horses into Europe, assigned to the species ''

Equus mosbachensis The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the endangered Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii'', sometimes tr ...

''.

Ecology

''Equus suessenbornensis'' is primarily associated with open woodland environments, though it was also found in open environments as well as forested environments. Dental wear analysis suggests that it was primarily a mixed feeder (engaging in both

browsing Browsing is a kind of orienting strategy. It is supposed to identify something of relevance for the browsing organism. In context of humans, it is a metaphor taken from the animal kingdom. It is used, for example, about people browsing open sh ...

and

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

), though some populations were alternatively found to be primarily browsers or grazers. It often co-occurred with the smaller "stenonine" equine ''

Equus altidens ''Equus altidens'' is an extinct species of equine native to western Eurasia including Europe during the Early Pleistocene to early Middle Pleistocene. Taxonomy ''Equus altidens'' was first described in 1915 from remains at the early Middle Pleis ...

'', which dental wear analysis indicates had a more grazing focused diet on average, suggesting dietary

niche partitioning In ecology, a niche is the match of a species to a specific environmental condition. Three variants of ecological niche are described by It describes how an organism or population responds to the distribution of resources and competitors (for e ...

between the two species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q40446873 suessenbornensis Fossil taxa described in 1900