Rhinocerotinae, Owen, 1845

Ataabadi, Majid Mirzaie, Mohammadalizadeh, Jafar, Zhang, Zhaoqun, Watabe, Mahito, Kaakinen, Anu & Fortelius, Mikael, 2011, Late Miocene large mammals from Ivand (Northwestern Iran), Geodiversitas 33 (4), pp. 709-728 : 716-718

Rhinocerotinae indet. ( Fig. 5 S-U)

LOCALITY. — Quarry 3, Ivand district, north of Tabriz, Iran.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Femur ( HMNH-IV 137; Fig.5 S- U; Table 2 ).

DESCRIPTION

An almost complete left femur is preserved ( Fig. 5 S- U). In the proximal part, the femoral head (caput femoris) and trochanter major are missing. The

A

Hipparion sp. large Ivand

H. giganteum Gromova, 1952 Grebeniki H. primigenium Meyer, 1833 Inzersdorf H. prostylum Gervais, 1849 Saloniki

H. sp. Large Samos

H. brachypus Hensel, 1862 Pikermi H. mediterraneum Roth & Wagner, 1855 Pikermi H. moldavicum Gromova, 1952 Tarakilia H. proboscideum Studer, 1911 Samos

Hipparion sp. large Ivand

H. moldavicum Gromova, 1952

H. gettyi Bernor, 1985

H. campbelli Bernor, 1985

H. prostylum Gervais, 1849

third trochanter is broken, but the basal part is preserved. The diaphysis becomes stockier distally from the third trochanter. The distal end is well preserved, and only the posterior and anterior sides are abraded. The medial and lateral trochleas are at the same level. The trochlear trough is damaged. The two condyles somehow diverge downward and the medial condyle is higher in elevation. The intercondyloid fossa is filled with sediment.

COMPARISON

Figure 6A shows the scatter plot of the femoral length against the distal width of well-preserved rhinocerotid femurs from several localities in Greece, Turkey, Iran, and China. The femur from Ivand locality, as illustrated, is clearly distinct from those of Chilotherium wimani Ringström, 1924 and C. persiae Pohlig, 1887 which are smaller, slenderer, and less massive ( Deng 2002). The femur IV137 clusters among the material assigned to Ceratotherium neumayri (Osborn, 1900) and Stephanorhinus pikermiensis (Toula, 1906) from eastern Mediterranean localities such as Pikermi, Maragheh, and Akkaşdaği ( Fortelius et al. 2003; Antoine & Saraç 2005). In general, the femur of these species is about 50 cm long and 15 cm wide distally. The total length of the Ivand femur, due to its missing proximal end, is unknown but it is estimated to be about 45 cm. Therefore, the rhinocerotid femur from Ivand locality can be assigned to Ceratotherium neumayri / Stephanorhinus pikermiensis primarily by size.

Order PROBOSCIDEA Illiger, 1811

Figures

FIG. 5. — Deinotherium giganteum Kaup, 1829 (A-R) and Rhinocerotinae indet. (S-U) postcranials, Ivand locality, NW Iran: A-C, ulna (HMNH-IV135) in proximal-anterior (A), proximal-posterior (B) and proximal-lateral (C) views;D-F, tibia (HMNH-IV119) in proximal-lateral (D, F) and proximal (E) views;G-I, calcaneus (HMNH-IV118) in proximal (G), distal (H) and lateral (I) views; J-L, unciform (HMNH-IV117) in distal (J), lateral (K) and proximal (L) views; M-O, metapod (HMNH-IV114) in lateral (M, O) and proximal (N) views; P-R, radius (HMNH-IV115) in medial (P), dorsal (Q) and proximal (R) views; S-U, femur (HMNH-IV137) in distal (S), anterior (T) and posterior (U) views. Scale bars: A-C, 90 mm; D-F, 1 mm; G-I, S, 60 mm; J-L, 35 mm; M-O, 40 mm; P-R, 65 mm; T, U, 45 mm.

FIG. 6. — A, distal width (DW) plotted against maximum length (ML) of femur in Rhinocerotinae indet. from the Ivand locality and some other Rhinocerotidae Owen, 1845 from Eurasia (Akkaşdaşi data from Antoine & Saraç [2005]; Linxia data from Deng [2002]); B, ulna proximal width (PW) plotted against its width at process olecrani (POW) in Deinotherium giganteum Kaup, 1829 from Ivand locality and several other specimens from Europe (Unterzolling data from Huttunen & Göhlich 2002).