Abstract: Geographically situated between North America and the western part of the Old World, Chinese hipparionines of the Late Miocene yield important biostratigraphic and biogeographic information. This information reflects faunal interchange between North America and Eurasia, and is also related to paleoenvironmental changes in the Late Miocene. Based on facial and dental morphologies and limb proportions, the Chinese hipparionines are compared with forms from other regions of Eurasia and North America. Two taxonomic groups are recognized among Chinese hipparionines. One group (not in phylogenetic sense) includes Hipparion dermatorhinum,H. weihoense, H. fossatum, H. hippidiodus, and H. coelophyes and shows morphological similarity with those in the western Old World. Another endemic group includes H. ptychodus, H. platyodus, H.tylodus, H. sefvei and H. plocodus and shows no similarity to forms of other regions. The former group, a characteristic member of the “steppe” fauna of northern China, is important for biostratigraphic correlations of fossil localities in Eurasia. The latter group shows similarity of facial morphology to that of North American hipparionines (genus “Cormohipparion”). The endemic hipparionines were members of the “forest” fauna in northern China.

摘要： 由于地理位置上处于北美和旧大陆西部之间，中国晚中新世的三趾马提供了重要的生物地层与生物地理信息。这些信息反映出晚中新世时期北美和欧亚大陆之间的动物群交流，同时也与当时的古环境变迁相关联。依据面部和牙齿形态以及肢骨比例，将中国的三趾马与欧亚大陆及北美的其他种类进行了对比。中国的三趾马可识别出两个分类类群，其中一个非系统发育意义上的类群包括Hipparion dermatorhinum, H. weihoense,H. fossatum, H. hippidiodus和H. coelophyes, 这一类群与旧大陆西部的三趾马在形态上高度相似；另一个为本土类群，包括H.ptychodus, H. platyodus, H. tylodus, H. sefvei和H. plocodus, 它们与其他地区的种类并无相似之处。前一个类群是中国北方草原型动物群中的典型分子，对欧亚大陆化石地点的生物地层对比相当重要；后一类群与北美的三趾马(“Cormohipparion”属)在面部形态上具有相似性，这些本土的三趾马是中国北方森林型动物群的分子。