Protaceratherium

Protaceratherium; Temporal range: Late Oligocene - Early Miocene
	P. minutum skeleton
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Genus:	†Protaceratherium; Abel, 1910
Species
	Protaceratherium albigense; Protaceratherium minutum;

Protaceratherium is an extinct genus of rhinocerotid from the Oligocene and Miocene of Eurasia.^[2]

It was a primitive, lightly built rhinoceros that was adapted to running.^[3]

Palaeoecology

Analysis of dental δ¹³C values combined with dental mesowear and microwear show that P. minutum fed primarily on C₃ plants and that it consumed less abrasive plants than the contemporary Mesaceratherium paulhiacense.^[4]

References

^ "Protaceratherium". Fossilworks.
^ Lihoreau, F.; Ducrocq, S. P.; Antoine, P. O.; Vianey-Liaud, M.; Rafaÿ, S. B.; Garcia, G. R.; Valentin, X. (2009). "First complete skulls of Elomeryx crispus (Gervais, 1849) and of Protaceratherium albigense (Roman, 1912) from a new Oligocene locality near Moissac (SW France)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (1): 242–253. Bibcode:2009JVPal..29..242L. doi:10.1671/039.029.0114. S2CID 86632471.
^ Agustí, Jordi; Antón, Mauricio (2002). Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids: 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe. Columbia University Press. p. 96. ISBN 9780231116411.
^ Hullot, Manon; Martin, Céline; Blondel, Cécile; Rössner, Gertrud E. (14 February 2024). "Life in a Central European warm-temperate to subtropical open forest: Paleoecology of the rhinocerotids from Ulm-Westtangente (Aquitanian, Early Miocene, Germany)". The Science of Nature. 111 (1) 10. Bibcode:2024SciNa.111...10H. doi:10.1007/s00114-024-01893-w. ISSN 0028-1042. PMC 11401789. PMID 38353735.