‖ protohippus Palæont.
(prəʊtəʊˈhɪpəs)
[mod.L., f. Gr. πρωτο- proto- + ἵππος horse. The Gr. word would have been *πρωθίππος, *prothippus.]
An extinct genus of quadrupeds, ancestrally related to the horse, whose fossil remains are found in the Pliocene of North America.
| 1876 Times 7 Dec. (Stanf.), In the recent strata was found the common horse: in the Pleiocene, the Pleiohippus and the Protohippus or Hipparion. 1877 Le Conte Elem. Geol. iii. (1879) 509 Next came..the Protohippus of the United States and allied Hipparion of Europe. |