News Finding: Fragments of the 'missing' digits can be found in the form of ridges on the backside of the splints."
Paper Finding: We suggest that the presence of these 'miniature hooves' in Equus and Hipparion indicates that digits I and V are partially expressed distally, and are not absent as previously suggested.
News Context: "While this explanation of the second and fourth digits is viable, it is incomplete and fails to account for the animal's first and fifth digits," the paleontologists said. Fragments of the 'missing' digits can be found in the form of ridges on the backside of the splints." According to the team, this demonstrates that the first and fifth digits were not simply lost to evolution, but attached to their neighboring second and fourth digits.
Paper Context: We expected to find a medial wing on the distal phalanx of Hyracotherium, representing the single missing digit, but this taxon shows no apparent evidence of the pollex distally. We suggest that the presence of these 'miniature hooves' in Equus and Hipparion indicates that digits I and V are partially expressed distally, and are not absent as previously suggested. If these digits were to continue distally, their projected position would be ventral to the dominant distal phalanx, consistent with the location of the double-sided frog.