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The Latest Pleistocene Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis from the Three Gorges Area and Re-evaluation of Pleistocene Rhinos in Southern China

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2012

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Abstract

Migong Cave in Wushan County,Chongqing,is an important late Late Pleistocene paleoanthropological site,with an absolute age dated to 13150±190 BP.The rhino fossils from this site,containing cranial fragments,mandibles,teeth and some postcranial bones,are identified as Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis,which is the latest and southernmost record of this species on Earth.S.kirchbergensis,which adapted to a temperate climate,migrated to the Yangtze River Valley during the Mid-Late Pleistocene probably because of the cold climate of the Ice Age.Based on materials of S.kirchbergensis from Migong Cave and other localities in the Yangtze River Valley,obvious distinctions are found among S.kirchbergensis from northern and southern China,and Europe.As a result,this species is divided into three types.Pleistocene rhinos from southern China,especially Rhinoceros sinensis,are also clarified.