Bone histology has proved to be a valuable tool to obtain information about the palaeobiology and early taphonomic history of fossil vertebrates. However, there are still many extinct taxa for which bone histology studies could be applied to deduce information about their life history and early diagenetic changes. Here, we partially fill this gap by studying bone microstructure and bone micropreservation in the third metapodia of Hipparion and Equus recovered from several Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene localities in Turkey. Our histological analysis reveals that most of the bone cortices under study are composed of a well-vascularized fibrolamellar bone. Furthermore, we record the presence of compact coarse cancellous bone in a Hipparion metatarsal. In terms of histological preservation, our findings provide supporting evidence that differences in moisture, oxygen, and/or temperature during fossilisation at the different localities impacted the quality of bone preservation. Bacterial bioerosion was extensive in the samples, and we also identified a specific tunnelling morphology that we tentatively consider to be damage caused by freshwater algae. The present study provides novel insight into the palaeobiology and early diagenetic history of extinct horses from Turkey and sets the stage for further research in this area.

中文翻译：

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土耳其灭绝马科动物的骨组织学、古生物学和早期成岩历史

骨组织学已被证明是获取有关古生物学和脊椎动物化石早期埋葬史信息的宝贵工具。然而，仍然有许多已灭绝的分类群可以应用骨组织学研究来推断有关它们的生活史和早期成岩作用的信息。在这里，我们通过研究骨微结构和骨微保存来部分填补这一空白。三头马和马从土耳其的几个中新世、上新世和更新世地区发现。我们的组织学分析表明，研究中的大多数骨皮质由血管化良好的纤维板层骨组成。此外，我们记录了致密粗松质骨的存在三头马跖骨。在组织学保存方面，我们的研究结果提供了支持证据，即不同地点的化石化过程中水分、氧气和/或温度的差异会影响骨骼保存的质量。样品中的细菌生物侵蚀很广泛，我们还确定了一种特定的隧道形态，我们暂时认为是淡水藻类造成的损害。本研究为土耳其灭绝马的古生物学和早期成岩历史提供了新的见解，并为该领域的进一步研究奠定了基础。