A new genus of horse from Pleistocene North America

Peter D. Heintzman; Grant D. Zazula; Ross D. E. MacPhee; Eric Scott; James A. Cahill; Brianna K. McHorse; Joshua D. Kapp; Mathias Stiller; Matthew J. Wooller; Ludovic Orlando; John Southon; Duane G. Froese; Beth Shapiro

doi:10.7554/eLife.29944

A new genus of horse from Pleistocene North America

Peter D. Heintzman^*, Grant D. Zazula, Ross D. E. MacPhee, Eric Scott, James A. Cahill, Brianna K. McHorse, Joshua D. Kapp, Mathias Stiller, Matthew J. Wooller, Ludovic Orlando, John Southon, Duane G. Froese, Beth Shapiro

^*Corresponding author for this work

27 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

The extinct ‘New World stilt-legged’, or NWSL, equids constitute a perplexing group of Pleistocene horses endemic to North America. Their slender distal limb bones resemble those of Asiatic asses, such as the Persian onager. Previous palaeogenetic studies, however, have suggested a closer relationship to caballine horses than to Asiatic asses. Here, we report complete mitochondrial and partial nuclear genomes from NWSL equids from across their geographic range. Although multiple NWSL equid species have been named, our palaeogenomic and morphometric analyses support the idea that there was only a single species of middle to late Pleistocene NWSL equid, and demonstrate that it falls outside of crown group Equus. We therefore propose a new genus, Haringtonhippus, for the sole species H. francisci. Our combined genomic and phenomic approach to resolving the systematics of extinct megafauna will allow for an improved understanding of the full extent of the terminal Pleistocene extinction event.

Original language	English
Article number	e29944
Journal	eLife
Volume	6
ISSN	2050-084X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.29944
Publication status	Published - 2017

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title = "A new genus of horse from Pleistocene North America",

abstract = "The extinct {\textquoteleft}New World stilt-legged{\textquoteright}, or NWSL, equids constitute a perplexing group of Pleistocene horses endemic to North America. Their slender distal limb bones resemble those of Asiatic asses, such as the Persian onager. Previous palaeogenetic studies, however, have suggested a closer relationship to caballine horses than to Asiatic asses. Here, we report complete mitochondrial and partial nuclear genomes from NWSL equids from across their geographic range. Although multiple NWSL equid species have been named, our palaeogenomic and morphometric analyses support the idea that there was only a single species of middle to late Pleistocene NWSL equid, and demonstrate that it falls outside of crown group Equus. We therefore propose a new genus, Haringtonhippus, for the sole species H. francisci. Our combined genomic and phenomic approach to resolving the systematics of extinct megafauna will allow for an improved understanding of the full extent of the terminal Pleistocene extinction event.",

author = "Heintzman, {Peter D.} and Zazula, {Grant D.} and MacPhee, {Ross D. E.} and Eric Scott and Cahill, {James A.} and McHorse, {Brianna K.} and Kapp, {Joshua D.} and Mathias Stiller and Wooller, {Matthew J.} and Ludovic Orlando and John Southon and Froese, {Duane G.} and Beth Shapiro",

year = "2017",

doi = "10.7554/eLife.29944",

language = "English",

volume = "6",

journal = "eLife",

issn = "2050-084X",

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T1 - A new genus of horse from Pleistocene North America

AU - Heintzman, Peter D.

AU - Zazula, Grant D.

AU - MacPhee, Ross D. E.

AU - Scott, Eric

AU - Cahill, James A.

AU - McHorse, Brianna K.

AU - Kapp, Joshua D.

AU - Stiller, Mathias

AU - Wooller, Matthew J.

AU - Orlando, Ludovic

AU - Southon, John

AU - Froese, Duane G.

AU - Shapiro, Beth

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - The extinct ‘New World stilt-legged’, or NWSL, equids constitute a perplexing group of Pleistocene horses endemic to North America. Their slender distal limb bones resemble those of Asiatic asses, such as the Persian onager. Previous palaeogenetic studies, however, have suggested a closer relationship to caballine horses than to Asiatic asses. Here, we report complete mitochondrial and partial nuclear genomes from NWSL equids from across their geographic range. Although multiple NWSL equid species have been named, our palaeogenomic and morphometric analyses support the idea that there was only a single species of middle to late Pleistocene NWSL equid, and demonstrate that it falls outside of crown group Equus. We therefore propose a new genus, Haringtonhippus, for the sole species H. francisci. Our combined genomic and phenomic approach to resolving the systematics of extinct megafauna will allow for an improved understanding of the full extent of the terminal Pleistocene extinction event.

AB - The extinct ‘New World stilt-legged’, or NWSL, equids constitute a perplexing group of Pleistocene horses endemic to North America. Their slender distal limb bones resemble those of Asiatic asses, such as the Persian onager. Previous palaeogenetic studies, however, have suggested a closer relationship to caballine horses than to Asiatic asses. Here, we report complete mitochondrial and partial nuclear genomes from NWSL equids from across their geographic range. Although multiple NWSL equid species have been named, our palaeogenomic and morphometric analyses support the idea that there was only a single species of middle to late Pleistocene NWSL equid, and demonstrate that it falls outside of crown group Equus. We therefore propose a new genus, Haringtonhippus, for the sole species H. francisci. Our combined genomic and phenomic approach to resolving the systematics of extinct megafauna will allow for an improved understanding of the full extent of the terminal Pleistocene extinction event.

U2 - 10.7554/eLife.29944

DO - 10.7554/eLife.29944

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29182148

AN - SCOPUS:85036458432

SN - 2050-084X

VL - 6

JO - eLife

JF - eLife

M1 - e29944

ER -

A new genus of horse from Pleistocene North America

Abstract

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