Dihoplus
Temporal range:
Dihoplus schleiermacheri holotype skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Rhinocerotidae
Tribe: Dicerorhinini
Genus: †Dihoplus
Brandt, 1878
Type species
†Rhinoceros schleiermacheri
Kaup, 1832
Species
  • D. bethlehemsis
  • D. pikermiensis
  • D. schleiermacheri

Dihoplus is an extinct genus of rhinoceros that lived in Eurasia from the Late Miocene to Pliocene.[1]

Description

Skull of a subadult Dihoplus pikermiensis from Greece

Species of Dihoplus were large rhinoceroses with two horns. The nasal septum was not ossified, with a nasal notch above the frontmost premolars. The toothrow is placed posteriorly within the skull. The first upper premolar is absent, though the lower second incisor is present.[1]

Taxonomy

Members of Dihoplus were long placed in Dicerorhinus (which contains the living Sumatran rhinoceros). Sometimes these species are placed in the related Stephanorhinus. The genus is now generally considered distinct,[2] though there is still debate as to which species should be included; for example, Deng (2011) listed Merck's rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis) under Dihoplus.[3] Species recently placed in the genus include:[4]

  • D. schleiermacheri (Kaup, 1832) the type species of the genus, known from Late Miocene of Europe, with the type specimen being known from Eppelsheim, Germany.[4]
  • D. pikermiensis (Toula, 1906), known from the Late Miocene of Europe, originally placed in the genus Stephanorhinus.[4]
  • ‘D.’ bethlehemsis Pandolfi, Rivals and Rabinovich, 2023, known from Pliocene aged deposits from Bethlehem in the Levant.[4]

‘D.’ megarhinus (de Christol, 1834) from the Late Miocene-Pliocene of Europe, Anatolia, China and Transbaikalia,[1][4] is considered to be the senior synonym of D. ringstoemi,[1] and since 2021 has been placed instead in the genus Pliorhinus along with "Dicerorhinus" miguelcrusafonti from the Pliocene of Europe.[5][6]

The monophyly of the genus has been questioned, with some studies suggesting that D. pikermiensis is more closely related to Stephanorhinus and Coelodonta (which contains the woolly rhinoceros) than to the type species D. schleiermacheri.[6]

Morphological phylogeny after Pandolfi (2023), excluding living African rhinoceros species.[6]

Hyrachyus eximius

Tapirus terrestris (South American tapir)

Rhinocerotidae

Trigonias osborni

Ronzotherium filholi

Aceratheriini

Plesiaceratherium mirallesi

Aceratherium incisivum

Hoploaceratherium tetradactylum

Teleoceratina

Brachypotherium perimense

Teleoceras fossiger

Rhinocerotina

Gaindatherium browni

Lartetotherium sansaniense

Nesorhinus

Nesorhinus hayasakai

Nesorhinus philippinensis

Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros sondaicus (Javan rhinoceros)

Rhinoceros unicornis (Indian rhinoceros)

Dicerorhinus

Dicerorhinus gwebinensis

Dicerorhinus fusuiensis

Dicerorhinus sumatrensis (Sumatran rhinoceros)

Dihoplus schleiermacheri (type species)

"Dihoplus" pikermiensis

Coelodonta

Coelodonta thibetana

Coelodonta nihowanensis

Coelodonta tologoijensis

Coelodonta antiquitatis antiquitatis (woolly rhinoceros)

Coelodonta antiquitatis praecursor (woolly rhinoceros)

Pliorhinus

Pliorhinus megarhinus

Pliorhinus miguelcrusafonti

Stephanorhinus

Stephanorhinus jeanvireti

Stephanorhinus etruscus

Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis

Stephanorhinus hemitoechus (Narrow-nosed or steppe rhinoceros)

Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (Merck's or forest rhinoceros)

Ecology

D. pikermiensis and D. bethlehemsis are suggested to have been browsers.[7][4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Pandolfi, Luca; Gasparik, Mihály; Piras, Paolo (2015). "Earliest occurrence of "Dihoplus" megarhinus (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) in Europe (Late Miocene, Pannonian Basin, Hungary): Palaeobiogeographical and biochronological implications". Annales de Paléontologie. 101 (4): 325–339. Bibcode:2015AnPal.101..325P. doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2015.09.001.
  2. ↑ Tong, Hao-wen (2012). "Evolution of the non-Coelodonta dicerorhine lineage in China". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 11 (8): 555–562. Bibcode:2012CRPal..11..555T. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2012.06.002.
  3. ↑ Deng, T. (September 2, 2011). "Out of Tibet: Pliocene Woolly Rhino Suggests High-Plateau Origin of Ice Age Megaherbivores". Science. 333 (6047): 1285–1288. Bibcode:2011Sci...333.1285D. doi:10.1126/science.1206594. PMID 21885780. S2CID 8913866.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pandolfi, Luca; Rivals, Florent; Rabinovich, Rivka (January 2020). "A new species of rhinoceros from the site of Bethlehem: 'Dihoplus' bethlehemsis sp. nov. (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae)". Quaternary International. 537: 48–60. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.01.011. S2CID 213080180.
  5. ↑ Pandolfi, Luca; Pierre-Olivier, Antoine; Bukhsianidze, Maia; Lordkipanidze, David; Rook, Lorenzo (2021-08-03). "Northern Eurasian rhinocerotines (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) by the Pliocene–Pleistocene transition: phylogeny and historical biogeography". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 19 (15): 1031–1057. doi:10.1080/14772019.2021.1995907. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 244762077.
  6. 1 2 3 Pandolfi, Luca (April 2023). "Reassessing the phylogeny of Quaternary Eurasian Rhinocerotidae". Journal of Quaternary Science. 38 (3): 291–294. doi:10.1002/jqs.3496. hdl:11563/163194. ISSN 0267-8179. S2CID 256167036.
  7. ↑ Hullot, Manon; Antoine, Pierre-Olivier; Spassov, Nikolai; Koufos, George D.; Merceron, Gildas (2023-08-03). "Late Miocene rhinocerotids from the Balkan-Iranian province: ecological insights from dental microwear textures and enamel hypoplasia". Historical Biology. 35 (8): 1417–1434. doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2095910. ISSN 0891-2963. S2CID 251046561.


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