Coelodonta

Coelodonta Temporal range: 3.7–0.01 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Pliocene - Pleistocene
The woolly rhino, Coelodonta antiquitatis.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Subfamily:	Rhinocerotinae
Genus:	Coelodonta† Bronn, 1831
Type species
Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach, 1799)
species
Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach, 1799) (type species) Coelodonta nihowanensis Chow, 1978 Coelodonta thibetana Deng et al., 2011 Coelodonta tologoijensis Beliajeva, 1966

Coelodonta (from the Greek "hollow tooth", in reference to the deep grooves of their molars) is an extinct genus of rhinoceros that lived in Eurasia between 3.7 million years to 10,000 years before the present, in the Pliocene and the Pleistocene epochs.

Species

Coelodonta antiquitatis MHNT

Skulls of Coelodonta species: from up to down, C. nihowanensis, C. tologoijensis and C. antiquitatis.

Other species are recognised for Coelodonta, following to Deng et al. (2011), including:

• Coelodonta thibetana (Deng et al. 2011): The most primitive species of the genus, inhabited the Thibetan Plateau in the Pliocene.^[1]
• Coelodonta nihowanensis (Chow, 1978): A primitive species from northern China, it lived in the earliest Pleistocene.^[1]
• Coelodonta tologoijensis (Beliajeva, 1966): It appeared in the north of China 2 million years ago, spreading to Europe in the Middle Pleistocene, 470.000 years ago. Probably was the direct ancestor of the woolly rhinoceros.^[2]
• Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach, 1799): The type species of the genus, commonly known as the woolly rhinoceros. It lived in the steppes of northern Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene, and was the last living representative of the genus.

Phylogeny

The authors of the description of the species C. thibetana (Deng et al., 2011) proposed a cladogram to place phylogenetically their position in relation to other members of Rhinocerotidae, using the five extant species of rhinoceros and thirteen extinct species. They found that Coelodonta was the sister taxon of the species Stephanorhinus hemitoechus.^[1]

Ronzotherium† Lartetotherium† Ceratotherium simum Diceros bicornis Dicerorhinus sumatrensis Rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus Rhinoceros unicornis Dihoplus megarhinus† 'Dihoplus' kirchbergensis† Dihoplus pikermiensis† Dihoplus ringstroemi† Stephanorhinus etruscus† Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis† Stephanorhinus hemitoechus† Coelodonta† Coelodonta thibetana† Coelodonta nihowanensis† Coelodonta tologoijensis† Coelodonta antiquitatis†

References

1. 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 333 (6047): 1285–1288. doi:10.1126/science.1206594. PMID 21885780.
2. David Garcia Fernández & Juan Vicente i Castells. Nuevas aportaciones al conocimiento de Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach, 1799) de Brown Bank, Mar del Norte. Butll. Centre d'Est. Natura B-N. VII 13): 309-329 Sta. Coloma de Gramenet, 2008.PDF

External links

• Paleobiology Database