''Dihoplus'' is an extinct genus of

rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

that lived in

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

from the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58

Description

Species of ''Dihoplus'' were large rhinoceroses, with the body masses of ''Dihoplus schleiermacheri'' and ''Dihoplus pikermiensis'' estimated at and respectively. The head bore two horns. The

nasal septum The nasal septum () separates the left and right airways of the Human nose, nasal cavity, dividing the two nostrils. It is Depression (kinesiology), depressed by the depressor septi nasi muscle. Structure The fleshy external end of the nasal s ...

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.

Taxonomy

Members of ''Dihoplus'' were long placed in '' Dicerorhinus'' (which contains the living

Sumatran rhinoceros The Sumatran rhinoceros (''Dicerorhinus sumatrensis''), also known as the Sumatran rhino, hairy rhinoceros or Asian two-horned rhinoceros, is a rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant species of rhinoceros; it is the o ...

). Sometimes these species are placed in the related ''

Stephanorhinus ''Stephanorhinus'' is an extinct genus of two-horned rhinoceros native to Eurasia and North Africa that lived during the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene. Species of ''Stephanorhinus'' were the predominant and often only species of rhinoceros in ...

''. The genus is now generally considered distinct, though there is still debate as to which species should be included; for example, Deng (2011) listed Merck's rhinoceros ''( Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis)'' under ''Dihoplus''. Species recently placed in the genus include: * ''D. schleiermacheri'' (Kaup, 1832) the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the genus, known from Late Miocene of Europe, with the type specimen being known from Eppelsheim, Germany. * ''D. pikermiensis'' (Toula, 1906), known from the Late Miocene of Europe, originally placed in the genus ''Stephanorhinus''. * ‘''D.''’ ''bethlehemsis'' Pandolfi, Rivals and Rabinovich, 2023, known from Pliocene aged deposits from

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

in the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

. ''"D." megarhinus'' (de Christol, 1834) from the Late Miocene-Pliocene of Europe,

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, China and Transbaikalia, since 2021 has been placed instead in the genus '' Pliorhinus'' along with "''Dicerorhinus" miguelcrusafonti'' from the Pliocene of Europe. "''D." ringstoemi'' is either considered a synonym of ''"D." megarhinus'' or placed as a separate species within ''Pliorhinus''. The

monophyly In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent comm ...

of the genus has been questioned, with some studies suggesting that ''D. pikermiensis'' is more closely related to ''Stephanorhinus'' and ''

Coelodonta ''Coelodonta'' (, from the Ancient Greek κοῖλος (''koîlos''), meaning "hollow", and οδούς (''odoús''), meaning "tooth", in reference to the deep grooves of their molar (tooth), molars) is an extinct genus of Eurasian rhinoceroses th ...

'' (which contains the

woolly rhinoceros The woolly rhinoceros (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that inhabited northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene epoch. The woolly rhinoceros was a member of the Pleistocene megafauna. The woolly rhinoceros was larg ...

) than to the type species ''D. schleiermacheri.'' Morphological phylogeny after Pandolfi (2023), excluding living African rhinoceros species.

Ecology

''D. pikermiensis'' and ''D. bethlehemsis'' are suggested to have been browsers.

References

Dicerorhinini Fossil taxa described in 1878 Miocene rhinoceroses Pliocene rhinoceroses Miocene mammals of Europe Miocene mammals of Asia Pliocene mammals of Europe Pliocene mammals of Asia {{Paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub