 Reference Base  Notes on the lesser one-horned rhinoceros, Rhinoceros son... |
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Colbert, E.H., 1942. Notes on the lesser one-horned rhinoceros, Rhinoceros sondaicus, 2. The position of Rhinoceros sondaicus in the phylogeny of the genus Rhinoceros. American Museum Novitates 1207: 1-5, figs. 1-3
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World |
| Subject: |
Taxonomy - Evolution |
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Fossil |
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4 species recognized in genus Rhinoceros, including:
Rhinoceros sinensis Owen, 1870. Synonyms: R. plicidens, R. simplicidens. Pleistocene of southwestern China.
At this place it might be well to consider briefly two Pleistocene species of Rhinoceros, Rhinoceros sinensis and Rhinoceros sivalensis, both known from considerable suites of materials from China and India, repectively.
Rhinoceros sinensis is a large species, almost as big as the modern Indian rhinoceros, but interesting in that it shows a combination of the characters that distinguish R. sondaicus and R. unicornis. Thus, in spite of its large size, Rhinoceros sinensis seemingly had a rather small horn carried on a pointed horn boss, as in the Javan rhinoceros. Since the back of the skull is not well preserved in this species, nothing can be said about the diagnostic characters of the cranial and basicranial regions. However, the cheek teeth are interesting in that they are hypsodont, more so than the teeth of Rhinoceros sondaicus, less so than those of Rhinoceros unicornis, they have the parastyle buttress as in R. sondaicus but not so prominent, the ectoloph is less sinuous than in R. sondaicus but not so flattened as in R. unicornis, while the crochet and crista, although well developed (the latter often being reduplicated), do not join to enclose a medifossette as in R. unicornis. Thus it seems evident that Rhinoceros sinensis is a form of rather intermediate position between the two living species.
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