Two skulls of the newly identified genus Harringtonhippus excavated from sites in Nevada (top) and Texas (bottom)ERIC SCOTT, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN BERNARDINOThe extinct New World stilt-legged horse was previously believed to be a close relative of living horse populations. But analyzing DNA from fossils found in sites in the Western US as well as Canada's Yukon territory, scientists have identified a new genus, Haringtonhippus, which is distinct any known living population of horse. 

P.D. Heintzman et al., “New genus of horse from Pleistocene North America,” eLife, doi:10.7554/eLife.29944, 2017. 

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