The late Early to early Middle Pleistocene stenonoid horses from Italy

Abstract

Stenonoid horses [Equus livenzovensis, Equus stenonis, Equus stehlini, Equus altidens, the large-sized horses generally referred to as the so-called “Equus ex gr. Equusmajor (=Equus bressanus) and Equus suessenbornensis”] have been recorded in a number of Early to early Middle Pleistocene Italian faunal assemblages. This study mainly focuses on E.altidens and E.suessenbornensis. Both taxa were long surviving species, ranging in age from the latest Villafranchian (Farneta and Pirro faunal units) to the middle Galerian (if not later) and are sometimes found together in the same local faunal assemblage (LFA). The Italian fossil record apparently does not include the archaic subspecies E.altidens granatensis, while E.altidens altidens, found from several sites (e.g. Pirro Nord, Slivia, Ponte Galeria, Venosa-Loreto) are similar to the late Early and early Middle Pleistocene specimens from Guadix-Baza basin and Süssenborn. The phylogenetical relationships of this horse with the late Villafranchian E.stenonis are briefly discussed. E.suessenbornensis is here regarded as a stenonoid horse, although its teeth share some morphological traits with caballine horses. The overall morphology and dimensions of the Italian specimens are close to those of the type population of Süssenborn and the latest Early–early Middle Pleistocene large equids from southern-eastern Spain (Huéscar-1, Cullar de Baza-1, Fuente Nueva-3 and Barranco León-5, Guadix-Baza basin).