A review of fossil rhinoceroses from the Neogene of Myanmar with description of new specimens from the Irrawaddy Sediments

Abstract

Four genera and one indeterminate genus (total eight species) of fossil rhinoceroses (Mammalia; Perissodactyla; Rhinocerotidae) are recognized from the Neogene of central Myanmar. In the early Miocene, most area of central Myanmar were under the shallow marine condition, and no rhinocerotid remain has been documented yet. During the middle to late Miocene, the rhinocerotid remains are commonly found and are represented by “ Diceratherium” naricum, Brachypotherium perimense, Brachypotherium fatehjangense and an indeterminate rhinocerotid. In the latest Miocene, these archaic rhinoceroses became extinct. In the late Neogene, the extant genera, Rhinoceros (late Miocene to Pleistocene) and Dicerorhinus (Plio-Pleistocene) first appeared in Myanmar. They appear to have dispersed to the Island Southeast Asia from the continental Asia during the early Pleistocene to middle Pleistocene when the eustatic sea level became low remarkably.