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

Akkasdaǧι 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 Akkaşdaǧι. 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 Akkaşdaģι and other hipparion localities of Turolian and Vallesian age. Our results confirm the presence of four species of hipparionines in Akkaşdaǧι. The morphology of the metapodials suggests habitat divers towards the open end of the spectrum. Forested conditions are ruled out.