Stephanorhinus

Stephanorhinus Temporal range: Middle to Late Pleistocene
S. kirchbergensis skull
Conservation status
Extinct
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Genus:	Stephanorhinus
Species
†S. etruscus †S. hemiotechus Narrow-nosed Rhinoceros †S. kirchbergensis (Jäger, 1839) Merck's rhinoceros

Stephanorhinus is an extinct genus of rhinoceros native to northern Eurasia that lived during the middle and early late Pleistocene epoch. It had two horns and was a relatively large rhino.

Species and distribution

S. kirchbergensis was larger than the similar Narrow-nosed Rhinoceros Stephanorhinus hemiotechus, which lived during the same epoch in Eurasia.

S. kirchbergensis preferred forest or woodland habitats, while S. hemiotechus was probably adapted to more open habitats^[1]. S. kirchbergensis is relatively rare in fossil record and known from few Italian, French, German, British, and East-European localities, mostly of the middle Pleistocene. In Asia it is known from Siberia, Western Asia (e.g. southeastern Kazakhstan), Central Korea, China. It may have also occurred in Israel and Lebanon, but here it's unclear, if it was really S. kirchbergensis or a similar species ^[2].

In eastern Europe S. kirchbergensis disappeared during the earliest Late Pleistocene, where it is recorded in the Eemian in Poland. In the Forests of the Caucasus it may have survived even until the early Weichselian. The last occurrences are known from Spain, where it survived until the middle or early Late Weichselian. The narrow-nosed rhinoceros appeared in Europe in the early middle Pleistocene. It is known here from many localities between, Spain, Italy, Germany and the British Islands. Apart from Europe it is also known from Syria, Israel, the Caucasus and from one late Pleistocene locality close to Lake Baikal. This is the easternmost point of the known range. The latest fossils of the narrow-nosed rhinoceros are known from the Balkan, where it survived until the early late Weichselian^[1]

Gallery

• 

  S. kirchbergensis restoration.

• 

  S. hemitoechus skull.

• 

  S. etruscus skull.

See also

Paleontology portal

• Pleistocene Park
• Ice age

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Diana Pushkina: The Pleistocene easternmost distribution in Eurasia of the species associated with the Eemian Palaeoloxodon antiquus assemblage. Mammal Review, 2007. Volume 37 Issue 3, Pages 224 - 245
2. ^ Emmanuel M.E. Billia: Revision of the fossil material attributed to Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis' (Jäger 1839) (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) preserved in the museum collections of the Russian Federation. Quaternary International. Volume 179, Issue 1, March 2008, Pages 25-37