European Ass 5218739 224662360 2008-07-09T21:29:49Z 86.212.193.207 {{Taxobox | name = European Ass | status = EX | status_system = | image = | image_caption = | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] | classis = [[Mammal]]ia | ordo = [[Perissodactyla]] | familia = [[Equidae]] | genus = ''[[Equidae|Equus]]'' | subgenus = | species = '''''E. hydruntinus''''' | binomial = ''Equus hydruntinus'' }} The '''European Ass''' ''(Equus hydruntinus)'' is an extinct [[equid]] from the middle and late [[Pleistocene]] of Eurasia. It appeared first in the fossil report 300.000 years before present and disappeared not until [[Holocene]] times. In the late Pleistocene it was widespread throughout much of western Eurasia from the middle east to Europe, especially along the [[Mediterranean]], with fossil reports from [[Sicily]], [[Turkey]], [[Spain]], [[France]] and [[Portugal]]. In the east the range apparently stretched at least to the Volga and to Iran, in the north it reached almost the [[North Sea]] in Germany. Morphologically the European ass can be distinguished from [[African wild ass|asses]] and [[Asiatic wild ass|hemiones]] particularly by its [[molar]]s and the relatively short [[nare]]s. The exact systematic position is still not fully clear, but genetic and morphological analysis suggest, that it is closely related to the [[Asiatic wild ass]]<ref>Ariane Burke, Vera Eisenmann and Graeme K. Ambler: ''The systematic position of ''Equus hydruntinus'', an extinct species of Pleistocene equid''. Quaternary Research, Volume 59, Issue 3, May 2003, Pages 459-469. [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WPN-48HXWJH-5&_user=616145&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000032322&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=616145&md5=dfed04e6442a739036f00b3111fe6bf6 online]</ref> <ref>LUDOVIC ORLANDO, MARYAM MACHKOUR, ARIANE BURKE, CHRISTOPHE J. DOUADY, VÉRA EISENMANN and CATHERINE HÄNNI: ''Geographic distribution of an extinct equid (''Equus hydruntinus'': Mammalia, Equidae) revealed by morphological and genetical analyses of fossils.'' Molecular Ecology Volume 15 Issue 8 Page 2083-2093, July 2006. [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.02922.x online]</ref>.<!-- REVISTA PORTUGUESA DE Arqueologia.volume 5.número 2.2002, p.29-98 --> ==References== {{reflist}} ==See also== *[[List of extinct animals of Europe]] {{Equidae}} {{horse-stub}} [[Category:Equids]] [[Category:Extinct animals of Europe]] [[an:Enzebra]] [[de:Equus hydruntinus]] [[es:Equus hydruntinus]] [[fr:Hydrontin]]