Stripes do not a Zebra Make, Part I: A Cladistic Analysis of Equus

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Abstract
Stripes do not a zebra make, part I: A cladistic analysis of Equus. Syst. Zool, 29:282–287.—Living and extinct species in Equus have not been reviewed for nearly a century. More than twenty morphological, mostly cranial characters of Equus and Dinohippus are here explained; synapomorphies uniting Equus and Dinohippus and autapomorphies within Equus are discussed. Significant outgroups compared are Dinohippus Quinn, Astrohippus Stirton, and Neohipparion Gidley. Cladistic analysis indicates that Equus is a monophyletic taxon closely related to Dinohippus, and that Equus can reasonably be divided into two (and only two) subgenera, Equus (Equus) and Equus (Asinus), each of which is characterized by a suite of autapomorphic features. The North American fossil record contains close relatives of every living species of equid except E. quagga. An examination of the zoogeographic implications of the cladistic hypothesis here presented indicates a complex pattern of migration from North America to Eurasia during Blancan through late Pleistocene time, and a strong zoogeographic relationship between Africa and North America demonstrated by the equids.

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