Parahippus leonensis

Parahippus leonensis is an extinct proto-horse of the family Equidae that lived in North America during the Miocene, from about 23 million to 16.3 million years ago. It was named by Sellards in 1916 for Leon County, Florida, and its type specimen comes from the Griscom Plantation site in the Torreya Formation of that state. The genus name means side horse, and the genus has been called the evolutionary link between the older forest dwelling horses and modern plains dwelling grazers. It had a long head with eyes set back from the middle of the skull and three toes, with smaller side toes than the toes of earlier horses, and it weighed about 72.5 kilograms. It was common from the Great Plains to Florida and was very likely prey of the bear-dog Amphicyon and the dog-like Temnocyon. Its standing as a species is uncertain, since Macdonald considered it a nomen dubium in 1992.