Stephanorhinus etruscus

Stephanorhinus Temporal range: Middle to Late ,9.7–0.126 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
S. etruscus skull
Conservation status
Extinct
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Genus:	Stephanorhinus
Species
†S. etruscus (Falconer, 1868) Etruscan rhinoceros †S. jeanvireti Late Pliocene rhinoceros †S. hundsheimensis Hundsheim rhinoceros †S. hemitoechus Narrow-nosed rhinoceros †S. kirchbergensis (Jäger, 1839) Merck's rhinoceros

Stephanorhinus or Merck's rhinoceros is an extinct genus of rhinoceros native to northern Eurasia that lived during the Lower to Early Late epoch. It had two horns and was a relatively large rhino. It weighed over 3,000 kg (6,600 lbs) and measured about 2.00 metres (6.56 ft) tall and 4.00 metres (13.12 ft) in length, having a size similar to a white rhino.

In the , there were two species of Stephanorhinus in Eurasia, the large Merck's rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis) and the narrow-nosed rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus hemiotoechus). Both species may have evolved from Stephanorhinus etruscus. However, it remains unclear whether another species, Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis, also fits in this evolutionary line. This rhino, which lived in the and in the western Palaearctic, could also have been a European side branch, derived from the Pliocene rhino Stephanorhiuns jeanvireti. It was probably a relatively unspecialised animal, evolved for grazing and browsing. When about 600,000 years ago the two new rhino species S. kirchbergensis and S. hemiotechus arrived in Europe, it disappeared. The arrival of a specialised browser and a specialised grazer was probably hard competition for this generalist.

S. kirchbergensis preferred forest or woodland habitats, while S. hemitoechus was probably adapted to more open habitats.S. kirchbergensis is relatively rare in fossil record and known from few Italian, French, German, British, and East-European localities, mostly of the middle Pleistocene. In Asia it is known from Siberia, Central Asia (e.g. southeastern Kazakhstan), Central Korea, and China. It may have also occurred in Israel and Lebanon, but here it is unclear if it was really S. kirchbergensis or a similar species. In eastern China, S. kirchbergensis was present throughout the Pleistocene between 30°N and 40°N.