Epihippus

Name: Epihippus ‭(‬Upon horse‭)‬.
Phonetic: Ep-e-hup-pus.
Named By: Otrhniel Charles Marsh‭ ‬-‭ ‬1877.
Synonyms: Duchesnehippus‭?
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Perissodactyla,‭ ‬Equidae,‭ ‬Hyracotheriinae.
Species: E.‭ ‬intermedius,‭ ‬E.‭ ‬gracilis,‭ ‬E.‭ ‬uintensis.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Around‭ ‬60‭ ‬centimetres high at the shoulder.
Known locations: Canada and USA.
Time period: Lutetian to Bartonian of the Eocene.
Fossil representation: Well over thirty individuals.

       Although still a primitive horse the teeth of Epihippus show a trend more towards the grinding of grasses over the slicing of plant vegetation like leaves.‭ ‬This is a reaction to the changing ecosystems of the Eocene which saw the beginning of a reduction in forests with their subsequent replacement by grassy plains.‭ ‬This process would go on throughout the forthcoming Oligocene and Miocene epochs,‭ ‬steadily driving horses towards the modern forms we know today.‭ ‬Today Epihippus is widely regarded as being the direct descendent of Orohippus.‭

Further reading
- Introduction and Succession of Vertebrate Life in America. The Popular Science Monthly 12:672-697. - O. C. Marsh - 1878.
- New species from the Oligocene of the Uinta. - Annals of Carnegie Museum 21(2):61-78. - O. A. Peterson - 1932.
- Phylogeny of North American Equidae. - University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 25(4):165-198. - R. A. Stirton - 1940.

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