 Reference Base  The mammals of the southern African subregion, new edition |
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World |
| Subject: |
Taxonomy - Evolution |
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All Rhino Species |
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Four genera of fossil rhinoceros are known from the early Miocene Epoch of some 23 million to 19 million years ago, whose ancestors, at present unknown, must have lived during the Oligocene Epoch which preceded it. These four genera are Brachypotherium, Aceratherium, Dicerorhinus and Chilotherium.
The two rhinoceros, the white rhinoceros, Ceratotherium simum, and the black rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis, arose from a common ancestor and fossil remains recorded from Plio-Pleistocene beds of some four million to three million years old show that they occurred throughout Africa during this period. A fossil species, Ceratotherium praecox Hooijer & Patterson, 1972, whose remains have been recovered from fossil beds at Langebaanweg, was among the commoner of the large mammals in the assemblage, dating back some seven million years ago.
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