The woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) from Ondorkhaan, eastern Mongolia

Abstract

The Mammoth Faunas, the famous cold-adapted mammal assemblages, were distributed widely across northern Eurasia and North America during the Late Pleistocene. The now extinct woolly rhinoceros, Coelodonta antiquitatis,was a major component. Abundant fossil remains of this species with radiocarbon dates have been reported through almost all of northern Eurasia, but the fossil rhinoceroses of Mongolia are poorly known. Here, we describe a rhinocerotid skeleton from Ondorkhaan, eastern Mongolia, and compare it with four Late Pleistocene rhinoceros species of northern Eurasia (Elasmotherium sibiricum, Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis and C. antiquitatis), resulting in its identification as a woolly rhinoceros (C. antiquitatis). Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates obtained fromtwo samples (ODK01 andODK02) ofthe skeletonessentiallyagree, 42 160-40 040 cal. a BPand 42 105-39 955 cal. a BP, andthe two samples had d 13 C values ofÀ19.5& and À20.2& SMMKW, respectively. Thisfindsuggests that the Mammoth Faunas were distributed in eastern Mongolia c. 45-40 ka during the period of climatic amelioration between Heinrich events 5 (H5: 46 000 cal. a BP) and 4 (H4: 39 000 cal. a BP).

Looking back over the shoulder: New insights on the unique scapular anatomy of the tapir (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae)

“…The absence of an "invading" m. infraspinatus reported in Etienne et al (2021) when quantifying the musculature of Ceratotherium and Rhinoceros strongly indicates the that absence of a supraspinous ridge is a genuine signal in modern rhinocerotids. From personal observations and the few published works available (Diedrich, 2012;Handa et al, 2022;Tong & Wang, 2014), there is a feature present on the scapula of the Pleistocene rhinocerotid Coelodonta which is reminiscent of the supraspinous ridge. However, greater sampling and more in-depth (quantitative) investigation into the muscle arrangements of all modern rhinocerotid genera would be necessary before the feature on the scapula of Coelodonta could be adequately inferred as homologous with the supraspinous ridge of Tapirus.…”