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Recent excavations at Shanshenmiaozui site in Nihewan Basin of North China uncovered a rich collection of comb-antlered deer, which includes the first discovery of the yearling antler, complete upper and lower dentitions (both deciduous and permanent), associated limb bones including the longest metapodials ever recovered. Based on toothrow length and the dental characters as well as the postcranial bones, the new fossil materials can be referred to Eucladoceros boulei that is estimated to be 350 kg and represents the largest Pleistocene cervid ever recovered in China. Besides the large size, E. boulei is also characterized by the pronounced anterior cingulids and entostylid ribs on lower molars as well as the moderately pachyostosed mandibles. The present study shows that the body weight of large cervids can be estimated by the length of toothrow and metacarpal, with exception for Cervus elaphus, which has larger toothrow length, but shorter metacarpal and smaller body size. E. boulei is a typical element of the Early Pleistocene fauna in northern China. The early Villafranchian is a bottleneck period for cervid evolution in northern China, which is characterized by the following features: decrease of cervid diversity, disappearance of archaic groups, and the rise of the medium to large-sized three-tined cervini taxa. The sudden appearance of the very large and/or multi-tined cervids at the Pliocene–Pleistocene transition may represent a great migration event of mammals. The Early Pleistocene cervids from Nihewan Basin are very diverse, and are in need of more taxonomic work.

Elasmotherium or the Giant Siberian Unicorn is quite common in Siberia and adjacent regions during the Quaternary Period, but it only appeared in very few sites of Early Pleistocene age in northern China. In the past century, quite a number of specimens of Elasmotherium were recovered in Nihewan Basin, most of which are disarticulated postcranial bones, among which the tibia was absent. Recently, not only dental materials, but also a nearly complete tibia and other podial as well as metapodial bones of Elasmotherium were recovered in Nihewan Basin. In morphology, the new specimens are quite distinct from those of the Russian species, especially in the form of Mc III, astragalus and cuboid, but their measurements are within the ranges or slightly smaller than those of the Russian Elasmotherium, and can be assigned to the species E. peii. The newly recovered bones are also very different from those of other fossil rhinos in their prominently larger sizes and the forms of Mc III and astragalus. The species E. peii co-existed with Canis chihliensis, Pachycrocuta sp., Mammuthus trogontherii, Coelodonta nihowanensis, Proboscidipparion sp., Equus sanmeniensis, Sus lydekkeri, Paracamelus sp., Eucladoceros sp., Spirocerus wongi, Gazella sinensis and Bison palaeosinensis, in a region that can be dated back to more than 1.2 Ma and represents a shrub-steppe environment.

Shanshenmiaozui in the Nihewan Basin of China is the locality that has produced the richest sample of Coelodonta nihowanensis material, including a nearly complete juvenile skull and mandible as we...

In China, the non-Coelodonta dicerorhines are too diverse to be placed entirely in the genus Dicerorhinus. Most of the Pleistocene species should be transferred to the European genus Stephanorhinus because they differ from the Dicerorhinus species. Those differences include a much larger body size, a dolicocephalic skull, the absence of incisors, a partially ossified nasal septum, a closed subaural channel, a more anteriorly positioned infraorbital foramen, and a robust postglenoid process combined with a less developed paroccipital process. However, the cranium once referred to Rhinoceros sinensis from the Yunxian Man Site should be transferred to Dicerorhinus because of the presence of smaller incisors, an open subaural channel, a high and nearly vertical occipital face, and the more anterior position of the anterior root of the zygomatic arch. In China, the interspecific differences among the Stephanorhinus species are more striking than among those of Europe. The evolution of the non-Coelodonta dicerorhines in China was punctuated around the Plio/Pleistocene transition, and it seems difficult to link the diverse Pleistocene dicerorhines with the indigenous Neogene ones. The generic attributions of the Neogene dicerorhines require further study. (C) 2012 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Shanshenmiaozui in the Nihewan Basin of China is the locality that has produced the richest sample of Coelodonta nihowanensis material, including a nearly complete juvenile skull and mandible as well as various other cranial, mandibular, and postcranial bones. All of the cranial and mandibular specimens belong to individuals around 1.5 years old. On the basis of both qualitative morphological characters and osteometric measurements, the new specimens can be provisionally referred to the species Coelodonta nihowanensis. They also fall within the range of variation seen in late Pleistocene Coelodonta antiquitatis, but are distinct from this species in having developed cingula, relatively low-crowned teeth either with or without very thin cement on the surface, vestigial lower incisors, less backward-curved protolophs, and more slender limb bones. The newly discovered juvenile skull of Coelodonta nihowanensis from Shanshenmiaozui represents the only known complete juvenile skull of an early member of Coelodonta, and therefore has great significance for understanding the development and evolution of the genus. Extensive comparisons with all other Coelodonta species, and with extant rhinoceroses, indicate that the new specimens are much more similar to the true woolly rhino Coelodonta antiquitatis than to any other taxon.SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at http://www.tandfonline.com/UJVP.