Calippus (mammal)

{{Short description|Extinct family of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Barstovian–Blancan
~{{fossil range|16|1.8}}

| image = Calippus AMNH.jpg

| image_caption = C. placidus skull, American Museum of Natural History

| display_parents = 2

| taxon = Calippus

| authority = Matthew & Stirton 1930

| type_species = Calippus placidus

| type_species_authority = (Leidy, 1858)

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = * C. martini {{small|Hesse 1936}}

• C. regulus {{small|Johnston 1937}}

}}

Calippus is an extinct genus of hoofed mammals in the horse family (Equidae), known from the Middle Miocene through the Early Pliocene of North and Central America. Fossils have been found in the Central United States and the Eastern United States, ranging south to Honduras.{{cite journal|last=Hulbert|first=Richard C. Jr.|year =1988|title= Calippus and Protohippus (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Equidae) from the Miocene (Barstovian-Early Hemphillian) of the Gulf Coastal Plain|journal=Bulletin of the Florida State Museum Biological Sciences |volume= 32|number=3|pages=221–340|url=https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/files/5314/7180/5153/Vol-32-No-3.PDF}}{{Fossilworks|id=42990|title=Calippus Matthew and Stirton 1930|date=4 May 2019}} These equines had high crowned teeth and a quadrangular, wide muzzle, and were small compared to their contemporary relatives,{{Cite web|last=altondooley|date=2010-12-13|title=From the collections room (Calippus)|url=https://vmnhpaleontology.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/from-the-collections-room-calippus/|access-date=2021-06-27|website=Updates from the Paleontology Lab|language=en}} with C. elachistus weighing 49 kg, C. cerasinus weighing 102 kg,Ungulates from Late Miocene Love Bone Bed. In: Body size in mammalian paleobiology: estimation and biological implications. JD Damuth & BJ MacFadden. Cambridge University Press (1990). 132 kg for C. theristes and 73 kg for C. mccartyi.{{cite journal |last1=David Lambert |first1=W. |title=Functional Convergence of Ecosystems: Evidence from Body Mass Distributions of North American Late Miocene Mammal Faunas |journal=Ecosystems |date=2006 |volume=9 |issue=9 |pages=97–118 |doi=10.1007/s10021-005-0076-8 |bibcode=2006Ecosy...9...97L |s2cid=30660487 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225741227}}