Coelodonta thibetana

Coelodonta thibetana Temporal range: Middle Pliocene
Conservation status
Extinct
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Genus:	†Coelodonta Bronn, 1831
Species:	†C. thibetana
Binomial name
Coelodonta thibetana Deng et. al., 2011

The Tibetan woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta thibetana) is an extinct species of woolly rhinoceros native to western Himalayas that lived during the middle Pliocene epoch. C. thibetana is known from the holotype IVPP V15908, a partially complete skull including incomplete lower jaw preserved with full dentition. It was first named by Tao Deng, Xiaoming Wang, Mikael Fortelius, Qiang Li, Yang Wang, Zhijie J. Tseng, Gary T. Takeuchi, Joel E. Saylor, Laura K. Säilä and Guangpu Xie in 2011.^[1]

Phylogeny

The descriptors conducted a phylogenetic analysis of the five living rhinoceros species and thirteen extinct species. They qualify following cladogram, where C. thibetana a basal position within his genus was awarded.^[1]

Ronzotherium Lartetotherium Ceratotherium simum (White Rhinoceros) Diceros bicornis (Black Rhinoceros) Dicerorhinus sumatrensis (Sumatran Rhinoceros) Rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus (Javan Rhinoceros) Rhinoceros unicornis (Indian Rhinoceros) Dihoplus megarhinus 'Dihoplus' kirchbergensis Dihoplus pikermiensis Dihoplus ringstroemi Stephanorhinus etruscus Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis Stephanorhinus hemitoechus Coelodonta (Woolly rhinoceros) Coelodonta thibetana Coelodonta nihowanensis Coelodonta tologoijensis Coelodonta antiquitatis

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Deng, T., Wang, X., Fortelius, M., Li, Q., Wang, Y., Tseng, Z.J., Takeuchi, G.T., Saylor, J.E., Säilä, L.K. & Xie, G. (2011). "Out of Tibet: Pliocene Woolly Rhino Suggests High-Plateau Origin of Ice Age Megaherbivores". Science 6047: 1285–1288. doi:10.1126/science.1206594. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6047/1285.figures-only. 

Paleontology portal