New Early Pleistocene Perissodactyl remains associated with Gigantopithecus from Yangliang Cave, Guangxi of southern China

Abstract

Herein the new Perissodactyl fossils associated with Giantopithecus blacki recovered from Yanliang Cave, Guangxi of southern China were described as Hesperotherium sinense, Tapirus sanyuanensis and Rhinoceros fusuiensis, which are all the common elements of the typical Early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus–Sinomastodon fauna in southern China. Especially, we analyse and compare to the metacarpus and metatarsus among extinct Rhinoceros fusuiensis and extant Asian rhinos based on quantitative indexes of measurements. The results show that the sizes between genera Rhinocers and Dicerorhinus are different. Specifically, the sizes of metacarpus and metatarsus of Rhinoceros fusuiensis are smaller than those of the living Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis and Rhinoceros sondaicus), but greater than those of Dicerorhinus sumatrensis. So, the measurements of metacarpus and metatarsus can be considered to provide available evidence in identifying rhino fossils. The assemblage of Perissodactyl remains from Yanliang Cave is most similar to those of Longgupo Cave, Chongqing and Mohui Cave, Guangxi, indicating its age as the early Early Pleistocene (∼2.0 Ma). These Perissodactyl fossils also implied a tropical bushy and forested environment with the humid and warm climate favourable for habitation of high-evolved primates such as Giantopithecus blacki.

Keywords::

• Perissodactyla
• Rhinoceros fusuiensis
• Gigantopithecus blacki
• Early Pleistocene
• Yanliang Cave
• Southern China

Acknowledgements

Dr Yuki Tomida is specially thanked for the continuous support, encouragement and discussions on palaeontological research. We also thank Dr Yuri Kimura for inviting us for this contribution. We are grateful for the discussions and field assistance from Haowen Tong, Jim I. Mead, Guangbiao Wei, Wei Wang, Jiajian Zheng, Qinqi Xu, Yingqi Zhang, Zhilu Tang, Yihong Liu, Qiuyuan Wang and Weimin Zheng. We appreciate very much the hardwork of Dr Gareth Dyke for expediting the process of this manuscript. We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers who have spent time providing the instructive comments to improve this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences [grant number KZZD-EW-03], National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 41202017] and the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS) [grant number 143109].