Paleoecology of the Akkașdağı hipparions (Mammalia, Equidae), late Miocene of Turkey

Akkașdağı is an abundant and diverse Turolian mammalian locality from Central Anatolia. Our paper reports the findings of our investigation of the paleoenvironment using an ecomorphological approach on the metapodials of hipparionine horses from Akkașdağı. First, a detailed description of the underlying theoretical model is given, and a habitat score is described. Then the model developed here and initially applied to the Bovidae is applied to Akkașdağı and other hipparion localities of Turolian and Vallesian age. Our results confirm the presence of four species of hipparionines in Akkașdağı. The morphology of the metapodials suggests habitat diversity towards the open end of the spectrum. Forested conditions are ruled out.