Pleistocene rhinoceros from Bogovina Cave: the first report of Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis Toula, 1902 (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from Serbia

Abstract

Finds of Pleistocene rhinoceros are rare in Serbia, and only one species (the woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis Blumenbach, 1799) has been reported so far. The current paper presents the dental material of an extinct so-called Hundsheim rhinoceros, Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis Toula, 1902 from Bogovina Cave (Eastern Serbia). Both the morphological and metric characteristics of the teeth are consistent with the attribution to S. hundsheimensis. Unfortunately, the rhinoceros material originated from an uncertain geological context, so there is no firm basis for dating. However, a potential association with a caballoid horse tooth could hint at an age of 600 ka or less for the assemblage, which would indicate a relatively late date for the Hundsheim rhinoceros from Bogovina Cave.