Locomotor adaptations of 7.4 Ma Hipparionine fossils from the middle reaches of the Yellow River and their palaeoecological significance

New fossil remains of limb bones referred to Hipparion (Hippotherium) chiai from 7.4 Ma in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, Fugu, Shaanxi, China are herein described and analysed. Although some of the primitive features remain on the phalanges, e.g.: less well-developed V-scars on the phalanges III; the suspending extent of the side toes is limited. But the functional morphology of these limb bones also suggests that: 1) the metapodials...