Diceratherium
| Diceratherium | |
|---|---|
| Skeleton, University of Wyoming Geological Museum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Rhinocerotidae |
| Subfamily: | †Elasmotheriinae |
| Genus: | †Diceratherium Marsh, 1875 |
| Type species | |
| Diceratherium armatum Marsh, 1875
| |
| Species[1] | |
| |
Diceratherium (meaning "two horned beast") is an extinct genus of rhinocerotid native to North America during the Oligocene through Miocene living from 33.9 to 11.6 mya, existing for approximately 22.3 million years.[2] Mass estimates for the type species, D. armatum average around 1 t (2,200 lb)[3]
Taxonomy
Diceratherium was named by Marsh (1875) based on the type species Diceratherium armatum. It was assigned to Rhinocerotidae by Marsh (1875) and Carroll (1988); to Diceratheriinae by Prothero (1998); to Aceratheriinae by Weidmann and Ginsburg (1999); and to Teleoceratini by Sach and Heizmann (2001).[4][5]
Description
Diceratherium had two horns side by side on its nose, which has often led it to be confused with Menoceras.[6] This forked horn was a sexually dimorphic feature in Diceratherium and its relatives.[7]
"Blue Lake Rhino"
A full-body mold of a Diceratherium exists as an impression in a cliff on the shore of Blue Lake near Coulee City, Washington.[8] The impression is a lava cast that is thought to be of a mature individual that died in a shallow lake and was rapidly buried by a basalt flow during the mid-Miocene (about 15 million years ago), creating a three-dimensional mold of its body.[9] The mold formed a rhinoceros-shaped cave on exposed rocks belonging to the Columbia River Basalt Group, which was first discovered by two Seattle couples searching for petrified wood in 1935, who also discovered remnant bones of the animal.[10][11] A replica of the "rhinoceros cave" was created by researchers from the University of California Museum of Paleontology in 1948 and later donated to the Burke Museum, where it is on display.[12][13][14]
References
- ^ Prothero, Donald R. (2005). The Evolution of North American Rhinoceroses. Cambridge University Press. p. 228. ISBN 9780521832403.
- ^ PaleoBiology Database: Diceratherium, basic info
- ^ Paleobiology Database. "Diceratherium, morphology". Retrieved 9 January 2013.
- ^ R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698
- ^ V. J. Sach and E. P. J. Heizmann. 2001. Stratigraphy and mammal faunas of the Brackwassermolasse in the surroundings of Ulm (Southwest Germany). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie) 310:1-95
- ^ D.R. Prothero "Rhinocerotidae" C.M. Janis, K.M. Scott, L. Jacobs (Eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1998), pp. 595-605
- ^ Janis, Christine (May 1982). "EVOLUTION OF HORNS IN UNGULATES: ECOLOGY AND PALEOECOLOGY". Biological Reviews. 57 (2): 261–318. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.1982.tb00370.x. ISSN 1464-7931. Retrieved 4 October 2025 – via Wiley Online Library.
- ^ "USGS: The Channeled Scablands of Eastern Washington (Geologic Setting)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ^ CHAPPELL, WALTER M; DURHAM, J. WYATT; SAVAGE, DONALD E (1 August 1951). "MOLD OF A RHINOCEROS IN BASALT, LOWER GRAND COULEE, WASHINGTON". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 62 (8): 907–918. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1951)62[907:MOARIB]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0016-7606.
- ^ Beck, George (1937-08-01). "Remarkable West American Fossil, The Blue Lake Rhino". The Mineralogist.
- ^ Johnson, Kirk. "When Rhinos Once Roamed in Washington State". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2025-02-06.
- ^ "Climbers find basalt mold and bones of a 15-million-year-old rhinoceros at Blue Lake, Grant County, in July 1935". historylink.org. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
- ^ "There's a Rhino-shaped Cave in Washington State". HowStuffWorks. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
- ^ "Blue Lake Rhino Cave". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 1 April 2023.