Coelodonta thibetana

Coelodonta thibetana, the Tibetan woolly rhinoceros, is an extinct species of the genus Coelodonta native to western Himalayas that lived during the middle Pliocene epoch. C. thibetana is known from the holotype IVPP V15908, a partially complete skull including incomplete lower jaw preserved with full dentition. It was first named by Tao Deng, Xiaoming Wang, Mikael Fortelius, Qiang Li, Yang Wang, Zhijie J. Tseng, Gary T. Takeuchi, Joel E. Saylor, Laura K. Säilä and Guangpu Xie in 2011.[1]

Coelodonta thibetana Temporal range: Middle Pliocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Genus:	†Coelodonta
Species:	†C. thibetana
Binomial name
†Coelodonta thibetana Deng, "et al" 2011

Phylogeny

The descriptors conducted a phylogenetic analysis of the five living rhinoceros species and thirteen extinct species. They qualify following cladogram, where C. thibetana a basal position within his genus was awarded.[1]

Ronzotherium         Lartetotherium       Ceratotherium simum (White Rhinoceros)     Diceros bicornis (Black Rhinoceros)           Dicerorhinus sumatrensis (Sumatran Rhinoceros)   Rhinoceros   Rhinoceros sondaicus (Javan Rhinoceros)     Rhinoceros unicornis (Indian Rhinoceros)         Dihoplus megarhinus       'Dihoplus' kirchbergensis     Dihoplus pikermiensis     Dihoplus ringstroemi       Stephanorhinus etruscus     Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis       Stephanorhinus hemitoechus   Coelodonta (Woolly rhinoceros)   Coelodonta thibetana       Coelodonta nihowanensis       Coelodonta tologoijensis     Coelodonta antiquitatis

References

1. Deng, T.; Wang, X.; Fortelius, M.; Li, Q.; Wang, Y.; Tseng, Z.J.; Takeuchi, G.T.; Saylor, J.E.; Säilä, L.K. & Xie, G. (2011). "Out of Tibet: Pliocene Woolly Rhino Suggests High-Plateau Origin of Ice Age Megaherbivores". Science. 333 (6047): 1285–1288. doi:10.1126/science.1206594. PMID 21885780.