Brachypotherium is an extinct genus of rhinocerotid that lived in Eurasia and Africa during the Miocene.[1] A first upper decidual molar referrable to Brachypotherium brachypus was found during gold mining in New Caledonia during the 19th century, being misidentified as a species of marsupial known as Zygomaturus.[2] However, rhinoceros were never native to New Caledonia, and the tooth was probably used as jewelry by a French convict deported there.[3]
| Brachypotherium Temporal range: Miocene
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| Mandible | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Rhinocerotidae |
| Subfamily: | †Aceratheriinae |
| Genus: | †Brachypotherium Roger, 1904 |
| Type species | |
| †Brachypotherium brachypus Lartet, 1848
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| Species | |
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Many species of Brachypotherium have been described. Some species have moved to other genera, such as B. aurelianense being transferred to Diaceratherium.[4] The genus was widespread during the Early and Middle Miocene, before heading into a decline. They went extinct in Eurasia by the beginning of the Late Miocene, with the African species B. lewisi surviving until the end of the epoch.[5]
References edit
- ^ Wilson, R. (1993). "Importance of the field occurrence of the rhinocerotid Brachypotherium americanum Yatkola and Tanner, 1979". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 13 (2): 270. Bibcode:1993JVPal..13..270W. doi:10.1080/02724634.1993.10011507.
- ^ Guerin, Claude; Winslow, John H.; Piboule, Michel; Faure, Martine (January 1981). "Le prétendu rhinocéros de Nouvelle Calédonie est un marsupial (Zygomaturus diahotensis nov. sp.)". Geobios. 14 (2): 201–217. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(81)80004-6. ISSN 0016-6995.
- ^ Antoine, Pierre-Olivier (March 2012). "Pleistocene and Holocene rhinocerotids (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from the Indochinese Peninsula". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 11 (2–3): 159–168. Bibcode:2012CRPal..11..159A. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2011.03.002. ISSN 1631-0683.
- ^ Prothero, Donald R. (2005). The Evolution of North American Rhinoceroses. Cambridge University Press. p. 97. ISBN 9780521832403.
- ^ Handa, N. (2020). "Brachypotherium perimense (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotidae) from the Miocene of Nakhon Ratchasima, Northeastern Thailand, with comments on fossil records of Brachypotherium". Historical Biology. 33 (9): 1642–1660. doi:10.1080/08912963.2020.1723578. S2CID 214240702.
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