New postcranial bones of elasmotherium peii from shanshenmiaozui in Nihewan basin, Northern China

Abstract

Elasmotherium or the Giant Siberian Unicorn is quite common in Siberia and adjacent regions during the Quaternary Period, but it only appeared in very few sites of Early Pleistocene age in northern China. In the past century, quite a number of specimens of Elasmotherium were recovered in Nihewan Basin, most of which are disarticulated postcranial bones, among which the tibia was absent. Recently, not only dental materials, but also a nearly complete tibia and other podial as well as metapodial bones of Elasmotherium were recovered in Nihewan Basin. In morphology, the new specimens are quite distinct from those of the Russian species, especially in the form of Mc III, astragalus and cuboid, but their measurements are within the ranges or slightly smaller than those of the Russian Elasmotherium, and can be assigned to the species E. peii. The newly recovered bones are also very different from those of other fossil rhinos in their prominently larger sizes and the forms of Mc III and astragalus. The species E. peii co-existed with Canis chihliensis, Pachycrocuta sp., Mammuthus trogontherii, Coelodonta nihowanensis, Proboscidipparion sp., Equus sanmeniensis, Sus lydekkeri, Paracamelus sp., Eucladoceros sp., Spirocerus wongi, Gazella sinensis and Bison palaeosinensis, in a region that can be dated back to more than 1.2 Ma and represents a shrub-steppe environment.