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The first description of Rhinocerotidae (Perissodactyla, Mammalia) from Xinyaozi Ravine in Shanxi, North China
DONG Wei, BAI Wei-Peng, ZHANG Li-Min
Vertebrata Palasiatica    2021, 59 (4): 273-294.   DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.2096-9899.210715
Abstract   (573 HTML79 PDF(pc) (3880KB)(483)  

Abundant mammalian fossils were uncovered during the field exploration for Nihewan beds at the beginning of the 1980s along Xinyaozi Ravine at Nangaoya Township of Tianzhen County, Shanxi Province in North China and the studied taxa indicate an age of the early Early Pleistocene. Recent studies on the rhino material not yet described show that there are at least two species of rhinocerotids: Elasmotherium peii and Coelodonta nihowanensis . There might be a third taxon provisionally named as Stephanorhinus cf. S. kirchbergensis due to incompleteness of the specimens. Since its morphometric characters are between S. kirchbergensis and C. nihowanensis , it might be a variety of one of the two species although it is more similar to the former than the latter. In the same way, The rhino specimens from Xiashagou named as Rhinoceros sinensis (?) by Teilhard de Chardin and Piveteau (1930) might be a variety of S. kirchbergensis or C. nihowanensis . The rhinocerotids uncovered so far from the Early Pleistocene deposits in the generalized Nihewan Basin including two certain species and two uncertain ones. The localities yielding E. peii include Xiashagou, Shanshenmiaozhui, Daheigou and Xinyaozi; those yielding C. nihowanensis include Xiashagou, Danangou, Donggutuo, Shanshenmiaozhui and Xinyaozi. R. sinensis (?) appeared only at Xiashagou and Stephanorhinus cf. S. kirchbergensis only at Xinyaozi.


Fig. 5 Broken mandible (IVPP V 27429.2) of Stephanorhinus cf. S. kirchbergensis from Taijiaping in Xinyaozi Ravine in lingual (A), occlusal (B) and buccal (C) views
Extracts from the Article
The dp4 is similar to dp3, but without parastylid and the trigonid basin is larger than that in dp3.The specimen V 27429.2 is a pair of broken mandibles with complete permanent cheek dentitions (Fig. 5). The anterior part of symphysis is missing, and the posterior end of the symphysis is located below p3. The lower part of mandibular body is not well preserved, and the major part of mandibular ramus is lost. The preserved parts of the specimen indicate that the mandibular body is robust. It curves slightly downward in lateral view and slightly medially in occlusal view. The measurements of lower cheek teeth are listed in Table 4.
Compared with S. kirchbergensis from other localities, the morphology of V 27429.2 (Fig. 5) is similar to that of VM.670 from Loc. 1 of Zhoukoudian (Chow, 1979), TNP00315 from Daheigou and SGT2:1 from Shigou in Nihewan Basin (Tong et al., 2014), as well as that of two mandible specimens from Rhino Cave in Shennongjia (Tong and Wu, 2010). On the other hand, the dental dimensions of V 27429.2 are generally smaller than those from other localities, i.e. Anping (Zhang et al., 1980; Xu, 1986) and West Europe (Guérin, 1980) (Table 4). Fig. 6 illustrates that Xinyaozi specimen is closer to Coelodonta than to S. kirchbergensis , but the smooth surface of enamel in both upper and lower dentitions, the absence of paraconid rib in lower cheek teeth distinguish Xinyaozi specimens from those of Coelodonta .
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