Shpansky A.V., Billia E.M.E. 2012. Records of Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (Jдger, 1839) (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from the Ob’ River at Krasny Yar (Tomsk region, southeast of Western Siberia) // Russian J. Theriol. Vol.11. No.1: 47–55 [in English].
Andrey V. Shpansky [shpansky@ggf.tsu.ru], Tomsk State University, pr. Lenina 36, Tomsk 634050, Russia;
Emmanuel M. E. Billia [eme.billia@alice.it, e.billia@yandex.ru], Rome, Italy.
KEY WORDS morphology, Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis, Middle Pleistocene, Tobol Horizon, Tomsk region.
ABSTRACT. Isolated teeth and some other postcranial remains, which have been discovered in Middle Pleistocene levels along the Ob’ River at the village of Krasny Yar, in front of the Sargulin Island (Krivosheino District, Tomsk region, southeast of Western Siberia), are attributed to Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (Jдger, 1839), better known in Russia as “Merck’s rhinoceros”. S. kirchbergensis, unlike other Plio-Pleistocene rhinoceroses, seems to be rare in the Russian fossil record (as well as in the rest of Eurasia), being reported from a limited number of localities only. This is the case of one of the very few records of this species from Siberia, and a second one from the Tomsk region. The co-occurrence in the Krasny Yar of S. kirchbergensis with Mammuthus ex gr. trogontherii-chosaricus, Bison priscus, Megaloceros giganteus ruffi, and Equus ex gr. mosbachensis-germanicus suggests a palaeoenvironment dominated by extensive grasslands and sparse trees.