Anchitherium

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Miocene}}Salesa, M.J., Sánchez, I.M., and Morales, J. 2004. [https://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app49/app49-189.pdf Presence of the Asian horse Sinohippus in the Miocene of Europe]. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 49(2):189-196.

| image = Anchitherium.jpg

| image_caption = Anchitherium aurelianense, Hypohippus equinus, Merychippus sejunctus, and M. sphenodus fossils in Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

| taxon = Anchitherium

| authority = von Meyer, 1844

| type_species = Anchitherium ezquerrae

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision_ref = Sánchez, I.M., Salesa, M.J., and Morales, J. 1998. [http://estudiosgeol.revistas.csic.es/index.php/estudiosgeol/article/view/204/205 Revisión sistemática del género Anchitherium Meyer, 1834 (Equidae; Perissodactyla) en España]. Estudios Geológicos, 55(1-2):1-37

| subdivision =

• A. alberdiae
• A. aurelianense
• A. australis
• A. castellanum
• A. clarencei
• A. corcolense
• A. cursor
• A. ezquerrae
• A. gobiense
• A. hippoides
• A. matritense
• A. navasotae
• A. parequinum
• A. procerum

}}

Anchitherium (meaning near beast) is a genus of extinct equid with a three-toed hoof.

File:(MHNT) Anchitherium aurelianense - Mandibule complète (Cuvier, 1825).jpg

Anchitherium was a browsing (leaf eating) horse that originated in the early Miocene of North America, being found as far south as Panama,{{Cite journal |last=MacFadden |first=Bruce J. |date=2009 |title=Three-toed browsing horse Anchitherium (Equidae) from the Miocene of Panama |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/15923 |issn=0022-3360}} and subsequently dispersed to Europe and Asia,{{cite journal|author1=Ye, J.|author2=W.-Y. Wu|author3=J. Meng|year=2005|url=http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-GJZD200502001.htm|title=Anchitherium (Perissodactyla, Mammalia) from the Halamagai Formation of Northern Junggar Basin, Xinjiang|journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica|volume=43|issue=2|pages=100–109|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012163704/http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-GJZD200502001.htm|archive-date=2016-10-12|url-status=live}}(in Chinese with English summary).MacFadden, B.J. 2001. Three-toed browsing horse Anchitherium clarencei from the early Miocene (Hemingfordian) Thomas Farm, Florida. Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History, 43(3):79-109. where it gave rise to the larger bodied genus Sinohippus. It was around {{convert|60|cm|hand|lk=on}} high at the shoulder, and probably represented a side-branch of horse evolution that left no modern descendants.{{cite book |editor=Palmer, D.|year=1999 |title= The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher= Marshall Editions|location=London|page= 274|isbn= 1-84028-152-9}}