Supervisors info:
Σωκράτης Ρουσιάκης, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Γεωλογίας και Γεωπεριβάλλοντος, Εθνικό Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Καθηγητής Δρ. Δημήτριος Σ. Κωστόπουλος, Αριστοτέλειο
Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής Δρ. Γεώργιος Ηλιόπουλος,
Πανεπιστήμιο Πατρών
Original Title:
Palaeontological study of craniodental material of Late Miocene rhinocerotids (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from the Island of Samos, Greece
Translated title:
Palaeontological study of craniodental material of Late Miocene rhinocerotids (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from the Island of Samos, Greece
Summary:
The rich and diverse Late Miocene fauna of Samos Island, Greece, consists of an impressive number of mammalian taxa, among whom the hornless rhinocerotid Chilotherium schlosseri Weber, 1905 and the two-horned species Dihoplus pikermiensis Toula, 1906 and Miodiceros neumayri Osborn, 1900 are present. In this thesis, antecedently undescribed craniodental material of these three rhinocerotid genera, excavated in 1903 in Samos by Professor Theodoros Skoufos of the University of Athens and stored in the collections of the Athens Museum of Palaeontology and Geology (AMPG), is prepared, examined and evaluated for the first time. Some of the most noteworthy specimens of the collection include an almost complete juvenile M. neumayri maxilla, a C. schlosseri mandible partially bearing the lower incisors, two partly preserved adult C. schlosseri skulls and the skull of an infant C. schlosseri. An important number of both isolated and articulated dental and postcranial rhinocerotid specimens also belong to the collection, but their preparation and study were beyond the scope of the present work.
The sympatric presence of the three aforementioned taxa is not a unique feature of Late Miocene Samian faunal assemblage. Veritably, the coexistence of brachydont D. pikermiensis and more robust, hypsodont M. neumayri, along with an aceratheriine genus such as specialized Chilotherium or more primitive browser Acerorhinus Kretzoi, 1942, was not uncommon in the Turolian localities of the Greco-Iranian Zoobiogeographic Province.
As far as Samos Island is concerned, the majority of the craniodental rhinocerotid elements studied herein belong to C. schlosseri. Due to the small number of craniodental M. neumayri and D. pikermiensis specimens, no safe conclusion may be drawn on the relative dominance of the tandem-horned rhinocerotids. However, the presence of C. schlosseri does point to a more arid, open habitat. Consequently, during the Turolian, Samos habitats resembled somewhat more those of Anatolia and Iran, rather than those of the classical synchronous localities of Pikermi (Attica) and Kerassia (Euboea Island).
Keywords:
palaeontology, Late Miocene, Samos, fossil mammals, rhinos
