Rhinocerotidae remains from the Lower Pleistocene site of Tsiotra Vryssi, Greece: Preliminary results

Abstract

Pleistocene rhinocerotids are poorly investigated in Greece, compared to the Miocene ones. The limited systematic studies, as well as the scanty and fragmentary material allow only partial classifications, frequently at the genus level, i.e., Stephanorhinus sp. Based on the recent review by Giaourtsakis (2022), during the Pleistocene, rhinocerotids were represented by two genera in Greece; Coelodonta and Stephanorhinus. The most common representative of the genus Stephanorhinus is S. etruscus, which has been reported more or less certainly from the Early Pleistocene (middle Villafranchian to Epivillafranchian) faunas of Kalamoto 1 and 2, Krimni, Livakos, Molykrio, Psychiko, Richea, Aivaliki, Tourkovounia 3-5 and Vatera DS. The Middle–Late Pleistocene species, S. hemitoechus, is recorded in the localities of Penios and Petralona (Athanassiou, 2011; Symeonidis et al., 2006; Tsoukala, 2018; Giaourtsakis, 2022), whereas S. jeanvireti is present in some Pliocene localities, such as Angelochori, Milia and Saint George Priporos (Guérin and Tsoukala, 2013; Tsoukala, 2018). This contribution presents the preliminary results of the study of the Rhinocerotidae remains from the fossiliferous site of Tsiotra Vryssi (TSR) in the Mygdonia Basin (Northern Greece). The site, discovered in 2014, belongs to the upper parts of the Gerakarou Formation and yielded a late Villafranchian vertebrate fauna dated between 1.78 Ma and ~1.5 Ma (Konidaris et al., 2021). Among the mammalian remains, Rhinocerotidae are represented by numerous specimens, and their study aims to contribute to the taxonomy of the Greek Pleistocene rhinoceroses as well as to the biochronological and biogeographical distribution of the genus Stephanorhinus in Europe.