Acerorhinus

Acerorhinus, from Ancient Greek ἀ- (á-), meaning "-less", κέρας (kéras), meaning "horn", and ῥίς (rhís), meaning "nose", is an extinct genus of rhinocerotid of the subfamily Aceratheriinae endemic to Asia from the Miocene, living from 13.6 to 7.0 mya existing for approximately 6.6 million years.^[2]

Acerorhinus Temporal range: Serravallian-Messinian, 13.6–7.0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeletal mount, Tianjin Natural History Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Subfamily:	†Aceratheriinae
Genus:	†Acerorhinus Kretzoi, 1942
Type species
†Acerorhinus zernowi Borissiak, 1914
Species[1]
A. fuguensis A. hezhegensis A. hipparionum A. neleus A. palaeosinensis A. simplex A. tsaidamensis A. zernowi

Among other locations, well-preserved Acerorhinus skull specimens have been found at Kerassiá in North Eubonea, Greece.^[3]

Taxonomy

Acerorhinus was named by Kretzoi (1942). Its type is Aceratherium zernowi. Originally, many species in this genus including A. zernowi were assigned to Chilotherium. It was assigned to Aceratheriini by Kaya and Heissig (2001); and to Aceratheriini by Antoine and Saraç (2005).^[4]

Description

Acerorhinus had very short legs, more like Teleoceras than other Aceratherines. While most other Aceratherines were grazers, Acerorhinus had brachyodont teeth which indicate a preferences for browsing.^[5]

Like other Aceratherines, it was hornless and had tusk-like incisors.