''Equus scotti'' (translated from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

as Scott's horse, (2003) ''Annotated Bibliography of Quaternary Vertebrates of Northern North America: With Radiocarbon Dates'', University of Toronto Press, 539 pages named after vertebrate paleontologist

William Berryman Scott William Berryman Scott (February 12, 1858 – March 29, 1947) was an American vertebrate paleontologist, authority on mammals, and principal author of the White River Oligocene monographs. He was a professor of geology and paleontology at Pr ...

) is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of horse native to

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

North America.

Evolution

''Equus scotti'' is a true caballine horse that is more closely related to modern horses than to zebras and asses. ''Equus scotti'' may be synonymous with '' Equus lambei,'' another generally smaller horse known from the Pleistocene of North America, but this is uncertain. Although it has been suggested that ''Equus scotti'' may be synonymous with living ''Equus ferus'', North American horses diverged from their Eurasian counterparts around 800,000 years ago, following the first dispersal of horses out of North America, with some interbreeding after the initial split. The earliest remains of the species are known from the late

Blancan The Blancan North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 4,750,000 to 1,806,000 years BP, a period of .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 ...

. The youngest remains of the species date to the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...

(

Rancholabrean The Rancholabrean North American Land Mammal Age on the geologic timescale is a North American faunal stage in the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA),Sanders, A.E., R.E. Weems, and L.B. Albright III (2009) Formalization of the mid- ...

) around 12,000 years ago.

Distribution

Paleontological Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

excavations have identified the locations of numerous places where ''E. scotti'' occurred. The species was named from

Rock Creek, Texas Rock Creek is an unincorporated community in McLennan County, Texas. It is near the headwaters of Rock Creek, a tributary of the Brazos River. History Settlement in this area began shortly after the Civil War, and Rock Creek grew quickly. By th ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, where multiple skeletons were recovered. A closely related fossil find was made of ''Equus bautistensis'' in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

; this species appeared closely related, but of a slightly more primitive form than ''E. scotti''. (1921) ''Extinct Vertebrate Faunas of the Badlands of Bautista Creek and San Timoteo Cañon, Southern California'', University of California Press, 424 pages However, ''E. bautistensis'' was redefined as a junior synonym of ''E. scotti'' in 1998 by paleontologist E. Scott, (1998) ''Equus scotti'' from southern California, ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' 18(3): 76-A who also assigned fossils from the Anza-Borrego Desert in California, tentatively interpreted to represent ''E. bautistensis'', to ''E. scotti''. (2006) Extinct horses and their relatives, ''Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert: the Last Seven Million Years'', ed. G.T. Jefferson and L. Lindsey, Sunbelt Publications, p. 253 – 271 The distribution of the species includes: "Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Yukon (Canada) and in California, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas (United States)".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Equus Scotti Pliocene horses Prehistoric mammals of North America Pleistocene horses Pliocene first appearances Pleistocene species extinctions Pleistocene mammals of North America Fossil taxa described in 1900 Equus (genus)

Evolution

Distribution

See also

References