Ceratotherium neumayri explained

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,^[1] Bulgaria,^[2] Iran, and Anatolia in Turkey.^[3]

Taxonomy

The species was originally described in 1900 by Henry Fairfield Osborn as the species Atelodus neumayri.^[4] The species is closely related to both the living African black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) and white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) as part of the tribe Dicerotini (also spelled Diceroti) or subtribe Dicerotina. Its genus placement is disputed, with it historically having been placed in both the genera Ceratotherium and Diceros.^[5] While some authors have suggested the species to be ancestor of both the white rhinoceros and black rhinoceros,^{[6] [7]} other authors have suggested that it represents a distinct early offshoot that is not ancestral to these species. A 2022 study placed the species in the separate monotypic genus Miodiceros.

Description

The species was a large sized rhinceros, and had two horns, a nasal and a frontal horn. The nasal septum was not ossified.

Ecology

Dental microwear analysis suggests that the species was a mixed feeder that engaged in both grazing and browsing.^[8]

Discoveries

Fossils of the species have been found in the Balkans, including Bulgaria and Greece,as well as Anatolia in Turkey, and in northern Iran and the southern Caucasus in Western Asia. A well-preserved sample fossil of the species, which is believed to have died of high temperatures during a volcanic eruption, has been found in Gülşehir, Turkey in 2012. Some authors have suggested that the species was also present in Africa, based on Late Miocene remains found in Tunisia originally attributed to C. douariense.^[9]

Notes and References

1. I.X. Giaourtsakis. (2003). Late Neogene Rhinocerotidae of Greece: distribution, diversity and stratigraphical range. Deinsea, 10(1), 235–254.
2. Geraads D, Spassov N. 2009. Rhinocerotidae (Mammalia) from the Late Miocene of Bulgaria. Palaeontographica A. 287:99–122.
3. Antoine . Pierre-Olivier . Orliac . Maeva J. . Atici . Gokhan . Ulusoy . Inan . Sen . Erdal . Çubukçu . H. Evren . Albayrak . Ebru . Oyal . Neşe . Aydar . Erkan . Sen . Sevket . 2012 . A Rhinocerotid Skull Cooked-to-Death in a 9.2 Ma-Old Ignimbrite Flow of Turkey . PLOS ONE . 7 . 11 . e49997 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0049997 . 3503723 . 23185510 . free. 2012PLoSO...749997A .
4. Osborn HF (1900) Phylogeny of the rhinoceroses of Europe. Bull Am Mus Natur Hist 12:229–267Return
5. Handa . Naoto . Nakatsukasa . Masato . Kunimatsu . Yutaka . Nakaya . Hideo . 2019-02-07 . Additional specimens of Diceros (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotidae) from the Upper Miocene Nakali Formation in Nakali, central Kenya . Historical Biology . en . 31 . 2 . 262–273 . 10.1080/08912963.2017.1362560 . 2019HBio...31..262H . 135074081 . 0891-2963.
6. Geraads . Denis . 2005 . Pliocene Rhinocerotidae (Mammalia) from Hadar and Dikika (Lower Awash, Ethiopia), and a revision of the origin of modern african rhinos . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 25 . 2 . 451–461 . 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0451:PRMFHA]2.0.CO;2. 52105151 .
7. Antoine . Pierre-Olivier . Saraç . Gerçek . 2005 . Rhinocerotidae from the late Miocene of Akkasdagi, Turkey . Geodiversitas . 27 . 4 . 601–632.
8. Hullot . Manon . Antoine . Pierre-Olivier . Spassov . Nikolai . Koufos . George D. . Merceron . Gildas . 2023-08-03 . Late Miocene rhinocerotids from the Balkan-Iranian province: ecological insights from dental microwear textures and enamel hypoplasia . Historical Biology . en . 35 . 8 . 1417–1434 . 10.1080/08912963.2022.2095910 . 2023HBio...35.1417H . 251046561 . 0891-2963.
9. Pandolfi (2018). Evolutionary history of Rhinocerotina (Mammalia, Perissodactyla). Fossilia, Volume 2018