| Epiaceratherium Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
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| Composite skull of Epiceratherium spp. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Rhinocerotidae |
| Genus: | † Epiaceratherium Abel, 1910 |
| Species | |
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Epiaceratherium is an extinct genus of rhinocerotid from the Eocene and Oligocene of Europe, Asia, and North America.
The genus was named by paleontologist Othenio Abel in 1910, with the type species being Epiaceratherium bolcense. This species is exclusively known from remains found at Monteviale in northern Italy, dating to the earliest Oligocene (~34 million years ago). The species Epiaceratherium magnum named by Uhlig, 1999, is known from remains found in Germany, France, Czechia and Switzerland, dating to the Early Oligocene to early Late Oligocene. Remains similar to this species have also been reported from Pakistan, dating to the Early Oligocene. [1] In 2013 the species Epiaceratherium naduongense was described from Na Duong Basin in northern Vietnam, dating to the mid-late Eocene (~39–35 million years ago). [2] In 2021, the species Molassitherium delemontense originally described in 2013 from late Early–early Late Oligocene deposits in Germany, Switzerland, France, [3] was reassigned to Epiaceratherium. [1]
Undescribed remains have been reported from Haughton crater in the high Canadian Arctic likely dating to the early Miocene. [4]
While sometimes considered to be a member of Rhinocerotinae (and thus more closely related to living rhinoceroses than to Elasmotheriinae), [5] recent phylogenetic studies have recovered Epiaceratherium as primitive basal rhinocerotid, outside the split between Aceratheriinae, Elasmotheriinae and crown group Rhinocerotinae. [1] [6] Cladogram after Lu, Deng and Pandolfi, 2023: [6]
| Rhinocerotidae |
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Epiaceratherium is distinctive from other basal rhinocerotids in lacking a lower third incisor (i3) as well as a lower canine, among a number of other characters of the premolar and molar teeth. [1] Species of the genus lacked horns. [7] The genus was relatively small in comparison to modern rhinoceroses with Epiaceratherium magnum and Epiaceratherium bolcense estimated to weigh 476–736 kilograms (1,049–1,623 lb) and 372–519 kilograms (820–1,144 lb) respectively in a 2015 study. [8] The hindfeet had three digits with hooves, while the forefeet had four, unlike modern rhinoceros. [7]
Elasmotherium is an extinct genus of large rhinoceros that lived in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and East Asia during Late Miocene through to the Late Pleistocene, with the youngest reliable dates around 39,000 years ago. It was the last surviving member of Elasmotheriinae, a distinctive group of rhinoceroses separate from the group that contains living rhinoceros (Rhinocerotinae).
A rhinoceros, commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family Rhinocerotidae; it can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species of the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea. Two of the extant species are native to Africa, and three to South and Southeast Asia.
Diceros is a genus of rhinoceros containing the extant black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) and several extinct species.
Dicerorhinus is a genus of the family Rhinocerotidae, consisting of a single extant species, the two-horned Sumatran rhinoceros, and several extinct species. The genus likely originated from the Late Miocene of central Myanmar. Many species previously placed in this genus probably belong elsewhere.
Ceratotherium is a genus of the family Rhinocerotidae, consisting of a single extant species, the white rhinoceros, as well as several fossil species.
Rhinoceros is a genus comprising one-horned rhinoceroses. This scientific name was proposed by Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The genus contains two species, the Indian rhinoceros and the Javan rhinoceros. Although both members are threatened, the Javan rhinoceros is one of the most endangered large mammals in the world with only 60 individuals surviving in Java (Indonesia). The word 'rhinoceros' is of Greek origin meaning "nose-horn".
Coelodonta is an extinct genus of Eurasian rhinoceroses that lived from about 3.7 million years to 14,000 years ago, in the Pliocene and the Pleistocene epochs. It is best known from the type species, the woolly rhinoceros, which ranged throughout northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene. The earliest known species, Coelodonta thibetana, lived in Tibet during the Pliocene, with the genus spreading to the rest of Eurasia during the Pleistocene.
Hispanotherium is an extinct genus of rhinocerotid of the tribe Elasmotheriini endemic to Europe and Asia during the Miocene living from 16—7.25 mya existing for approximately 8.75 million years.
Ceratotherium neumayri is a fossil species of rhinoceros from the Late Miocene (Vallesian-Turolian) of the Balkans and Western Asia, with remains known from Greece, Bulgaria, Iran, and Anatolia in Turkey.
Aceratherium is an extinct genus of rhinocerotid of the subfamily Aceratheriinae that lived in Eurasia during the Miocene.
Stephanorhinus is an extinct genus of two-horned rhinoceros native to Eurasia and North Africa that lived during the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene. Species of Stephanorhinus were the predominant and often only species of rhinoceros in much of temperate Eurasia, especially Europe, for most of the Pleistocene. The last two species of Stephanorhinus – Merck's rhinoceros and the narrow-nosed rhinoceros – went extinct during the last glacial period.
Rhinocerotoidea is a superfamily of perissodactyls that appeared 56 million years ago in the Paleocene. They included four extinct families, the Amynodontidae, the Hyracodontidae, the Paraceratheriidae, and the Eggysodontidae. The only extant family is the Rhinocerotidae, which survives as five living species. Extinct non-rhinocerotid members of the group are sometimes considered rhinoceroses in a broad sense. Although the term 'rhinoceroses' is sometimes used to refer to all of these, a less ambiguous vernacular term for this group is 'rhinocerotoids'. The family Paraceratheriidae contains the largest land mammals known to have ever existed.
Brachypotherium is an extinct genus of rhinocerotid that lived in Eurasia and Africa during the Miocene.
The narrow-nosed rhinoceros, also known as the steppe rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros belonging to the genus Stephanorhinus that lived in western Eurasia, including Europe, as well as North Africa during the Pleistocene. It first appeared in Europe around 500,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene and survived there until at least 34,000 years Before Present. It was native to temperate and Mediterranean environments, where it fed on low growing plants and to a lesser extent woody plants. Evidence has been found that it was exploited for food by archaic humans, including Neanderthals.
Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis, also known as Merck's rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros belonging to the genus Stephanorhinus from the Early-Middle to Late Pleistocene of Eurasia. Its range spanned from Western Europe to Eastern Asia. Among the last members of the genus, it co-existed alongside Stephanorhinus hemitoechus in the western part of its range.
Urtinotherium is an extinct genus of paracerathere mammals. It was a large animal that was closely related to Paraceratherium, and found in rocks dating from the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene period. The remains were first discovered in the Urtyn Obo region in Inner Mongolia, which the name Urtinotherium is based upon. Other referred specimens are from northern China.
This paleomammalogy list records new fossil mammal taxa that were described during the year 2013, as well as notes other significant paleomammalogy discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
Ronzotherium is an extinct genus of perissodactyl mammal from the family Rhinocerotidae. The name derives from the hill of 'Ronzon', the French locality near Le Puy-en-Velay at which it was first discovered, and the Greek suffix 'therium' meaning 'beast'. At present 5 species have been identified from several localities in Europe and Asia, spanning the Late Eocene to Upper Oligocene.
Allacerops is an extinct genus of odd-toed ungulate belong to the rhinoceros-like family Eggysodontidae. It was a small, ground-dwelling browser, and fossils have been found in Oligocene deposits throughout Central and East Asia.
Dihoplus is an extinct genus of rhinoceros that lived in Eurasia from the Late Miocene to Pliocene.