 Reference Base  The fossil record of rhinocerotids (Mammalia: Perissodact... |
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Giaourtsakis, I.X., 2021. The fossil record of rhinocerotids (Mammalia: Perissodactyla: Rhinocerotidae) in Greece. In: Fossil Vertebrates of Greece, vol. 2: Laurasiatherians, Artiodactyles, Perissodactyles, Carnivorans, and Island Endemics): pp. 409-500 - doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_14
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| Location: |
Europe - Southern Europe - Greece |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
Fossil |
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Abstract - The rhinocerotids (Mammalia: Rhinocerotidae) represent a herbivorous perissodactyl family that includes the extant rhinoceroses and their phylogenetically related extinct species. The family appears in the fossil record during the Eocene, and today comprises five extant species, two of which survive in the Afrotropical realm of Sub-Saharan Africa and three in the Indomalayan realm of Southern and Southeastern Asia. In Greece, the occurrence of rhinocerotids has been noted in ca. 80 fossiliferous localities ranging from the Middle Miocene to the Late Pleistocene. The reassessment of the Greek fossil record has revealed the presence of 11 extinct rhinocerotid species, representing eight genera and two subfamilies. During the Middle Miocene the family Rhinocerotidae is represented in Greece by the species Brachypotherium brachypus and Aceratherium simorrense; during the Late Miocene by the species Acerorhinus neleus, Chilotherium schlosseri, Chilotherium samium, Dihoplus pikermiensis, and Miodiceros neumayri gen. nov.; and during the Pliocene and Pleistocene by the species Stephanorhinus jeanvireti, Stephanorhinus etruscus, Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, and Coelodonta antiquitatis. The peak in the taxonomic diversity of the family in Greece is achieved during the Late Miocene, when up to three different rhinocerotid species with distinctive anatomical and dietary adaptations have been documented as sympatric in the classical localities of Pikermi (Attica), Samos Island (Aegean Sea), and Axios Valley (Macedonia).
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