Feeding habits of Dinohippus mexicanus and Neohipparion eurystyle horses from the Late Hemphilian of Tecolotlán, Jalisco, Mexico.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33064/iycuaa2009454992Keywords:
Paleontology, Dinohippus mexicanus, Neohipparion eurystle, Mesowear method, Tecolotlán, Late HemphilianAbstract
The mesowear method was used to reconstruct the feeding habits of fossil equids Dinohippus mexicanus and Neohipparion eurystyle from the Tecolotlán Basin, Jalisco, Mexico. For this purpose, mesodepletion data from 27 present-day reference ungulates, which present a "typical" diet, were used. The results reveal that the sample of D. mexicanus fits very close to Ovibos moschatus, Gazella thomsoni and Gazella granti, which indicates that it had a mixed diet (forager-grazer), while N. eurystyle fits with the current grazers. The results obtained for D. mexicanus contrast with other studies in which, by means of stable isotopes, it was determined that for the localities of Yepomera (Chihuahua) and Rancho El Ocote (Guanajuato), Mexico, this species fed almost exclusively on C4 grasses. Future studies will allow us to refine the results presented here and to contrast the methodologies used to infer the diet of extinct ungulates.
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