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Updated: Mar 7, 2026

Analysis of Chromosome Segregation, Histone Acetylation, and Spindle Morphology in Horse Oocytes
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Decoupled ecomorphological evolution and diversification in Neogene-Quaternary horses.

J L Cantalapiedra1,2, J L Prado3, M Hernández Fernández4,5

  • 1Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions und Biodiversitätsforschung, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany. jlopezcant@gmail.com.

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|February 11, 2017
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Horse evolution shows diversification pulses, but not linked to rapid trait changes. Instead, external factors like increased resources and new habitats drove horse speciation, suggesting ecological limits, not rapid evolution, controlled their diversity.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Paleontology
  • Phylogenetics

Background:

  • Evolutionary theory posits a link between trait evolution and species diversification rates.
  • The radiation of horses (Equidae) offers a model to test this hypothesis with extensive fossil data.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between speciation rates and the evolution of body size and tooth morphology in horses.
  • To determine the drivers of diversification pulses in the Equinae subfamily.

Main Methods:

  • Phylogenetic methods were employed to analyze lineage-specific speciation rates.
  • Evolutionary modes of body size and tooth morphology were assessed across 7 living and 131 extinct horse species.
  • The study covered the Neogene and Quaternary periods.

Main Results:

  • Diversification pulses are recurrent in equid evolution but not correlated with rapid phenotypic evolution.
  • Rapid cladogenesis (speciation) events were associated with extrinsic factors, including increased environmental productivity and Old World geographic dispersal.
  • These factors appear to have relaxed diversity-dependent ecological limits.

Conclusions:

  • Horse subfamily (Equinae) diversity dynamics were primarily controlled by ecological limits operating under diversity dependence.
  • Rapid ecomorphological differentiation did not drive major diversification pulses in horses.
  • Extrinsic environmental factors played a significant role in facilitating cladogenesis by overcoming ecological constraints.