The first complete skull of Hispanotherium matritense (Prado, 1864) (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotidae) from the middle Miocene of the Iberian Peninsula

ABSTRACT

New rhinocerotid remains from the early middle Miocene site of Príncipe Pío-2, Madrid Basin (Madrid, Spain), are described and identified as belonging to Hispanotherium matritense. They constitute the first complete cranial remains recorded for this species, permitting the description of its cranial morphology and updating the species diagnosis. New remains show H. matritense as a middle-sized hornless elasmotheriine rhinoceros, contrary to previous studies. Phylogenetic analysis places the Western European Hispanotherium matritense close to the coeval Spanish species Hispanotherium corcolense and more distantly related to the French species Hispanotherium beonense. The late middle Miocene “H.” tungurense from Inner Mongolia is placed near later diverging elasmotheres, and its belonging to the genus Hispanotherium is questioned.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the reviewers D. R. Prothero and P. O. Antoine and the editor B. Van Valkenburgh for their useful comments and suggestions, which have greatly improved the original manuscript. We are also indebted to E. Cerdeño for her critical reading of the preliminary draft and all the people who allowed O.S. to study material under their care: Y. Laurent (Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Toulouse), A. Arribas, S. Menéndez (Museo Geominero-IGME), and P. Pérez Dios (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales de Madrid). We thank S. Fraile and ArqueoEstudio for their support with the fieldwork and E. Cantero for the excellent preparation of the specimens. We also thank A. R. Gómez-Cano for sharing with us the Neogene map modified in Figure 1. O.S. acknowledges a predoctoral grant from the Spanish Government MICINN. This study is part of the Spanish Government MICINN research project CGL2008-05813-CO2-01, and is included in the research Group BSCH-UCM 910607.

Handling editor: Blaire Van Valkenburgh