The genus name derives from Ancient Greek elasmos "laminated" and therion "beast" in reference to the laminated folding of the tooth enamel and the species name sibericus is probably a reference to the predominantly Siberian origin of princess Dashkova's collection. He first announced it at an 1808 presentation before the Moscow Society of Naturalists. sibiricumĮlasmotherium was first described in 1809 by German/Russian palaeontologist Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim based on a left lower jaw, four molars, and the tooth root of the third premolar, which was gifted to Moscow University by princess Ekaterina Dashkova in 1807. Its legs were longer than those of other rhinos and were adapted for galloping, giving it a horse-like gait. Unlike any other rhinos and any other ungulates aside from some notoungulates, its high-crowned molars were ever-growing, and it was likely adapted for a grazing diet. Like all rhinoceroses, elasmotheres were herbivorous. sibiricum, sometimes called the Siberian unicorn, was the size of a mammoth and is thought to have borne a large, thick horn on its forehead (though see below). The genus first appeared in the Late Miocene in China, likely having evolved from Sinotherium, before spreading to the Pontic–Caspian steppe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The two groups are estimated to have split at least 35 million years ago according to fossils and molecular evidence.įive species are recognised. It was the last surviving member of Elasmotheriinae, a distinctive group of rhinoceroses separate from the group that contains living rhinoceros (Rhinocerotinae). A more recent date of 26,000 BP is considered less reliable. Elasmotherium is an extinct genus of large rhinoceros endemic to Eurasia during Late Miocene through the Pleistocene, existing at least as recently as 39,000 years ago in the Late Pleistocene.
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