A new rhinocerotid (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from the latest Miocene of Southern Italy

ABSTRACT

A new species of Rhinocerotidae (Perissodactyla), ‘Ceratotherium’ advenientis sp. nov., from the late Miocene (8.1–7.2 Ma) locality of Cava Gentile, Calabria (Southern Italy), is described. ‘Ceratotherium’ advenientis displays morphological characters close to Rhinocerotina, in particular to dicerotines, and can be distinguished from the late Miocene elasmotheres, teleoceratines and aceratheres recorded in Eurasia and Africa. The new taxon clearly differs from the European latest Miocene species Dihoplus schleiermacheri, Dihoplus pikermiensis, ‘Dihoplus’ megarhinus and Ceratotherium neumayri, and from the African species Ceratotherium douariense, Ceratotherium? primaevum and Paradiceros mukirii. ‘Ceratotherium’ advenientis also differs from the Chinese dicerotine Diceros gansuensis and from the extant African species. The new taxon is characterized by peculiar features, in particular in the morphology and dimension of the neurocranial portion, and by having a nuchal crest wider than in the extant African rhinoceroses, C. neumayri, C. douariense, and European latest Miocene species. A cladistic analysis places ‘Ceratotherium’ advenientis in a polytomy with the extant Diceros bicornis, C. neumayri and a small clade composed by C. simum and C. antiquitatis. The African affinities of the new taxon support the Calabrian-Peloritan arc as a northern extension of the African continental shelf during the late Miocene.

KEYWORDS:

• Dicerotines
• morphology
• geometric morphometric
• phylogeny
• Mediterranean Basin
• late Miocene

Acknowledgments

We dedicate this paper to the late Mario Bagnato (1956‒2019), founding member of the “Gruppo Paleontologico Tropeano”, a dear friend with a deep ethical sense. We thank P.-O. Antoine, X. Lu, E. Cerdeño and an anonymous reviewer for their insightful and useful comments and suggestions which greatly improved the manuscript. We also thank the editor G. Dyke. We are grateful to E. Cerdeño for a friendly review of a preliminary version of this manuscript. We are deeply indebted to Gruppo Paleontologico Tropeano (Parghelia, Vibo Valentia, Italy), who recovered the studied specimens, saving data about their stratigraphic position, and Dr. Fabrizio Sudano (Superintendence of Calabria) for allowing researches and studies on the Cava Gentile fossil fauna. We thank E. Cioppi (IGF), D. Vicari and S. Bruaux (IRSNB), M. Gasparik (HNHM), G. Belmonte (MAUS), E. Bodor (MFGI), O. Hampe (MfN), C. Sarti (MGGC), P. Pérez Dios (MNCN), M. Fornasiero (MPPD), F. Farsi (MSNAF), P. Agnelli (MSNF), P. Brewer (NHMUK), U. Göhlich (NHMW) and L. Costeur (NMB) for their help and assistance during LP’s visits to the rhinoceros fossil collections. We are indebted to G. Sansalone for the pictures of the specimens housed at BSPG. This contribution is framed within a wider project on late Neogene vertebrate evolution at the University of Florence (coordinator LR). Background work for this paper has been supported by the University of Messina (PRA 2006-2007, to ACM), NGS (8788-10, to LR), and Gruppo Paleontologico Tropeano (to GC). LP thanks the European Community Research Infrastructure Action, EU-SYNTHESYS project AT-TAF-2550, DE-TAF-3049, GB-TAF-2825, HU-TAF-3593, ES-TAF-2997; part of this research received support from the SYNTHESYS Project http://www.synthesys.info/ which is financed by European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 “Capacities” Program.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Funding

This paper has been supported by the University 890 of Messina (PRA 2006-2007, to ACM) and NGS (8788-10, to LR).