Sinomegaceros is an extinct genus of deer known from the Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene of Central and East Asia. It is considered to be part of the group of "giant deer" (often referred to collectively as members of the tribe Megacerini), with a close relationship to Megaloceros. Many members of the genus are noted for their distinctive palmate antler brow tines.
Taxonomy
The first species of the genus
S. ordosianus and
S. pachyosteus were named by pioneering Chinese paleontologist
Yang Zhongjian as species of
Cervus in 1932 for material from
Zhoukoudian.
[Young, C.C., 1932. On the Artiodactyla from the Sinanthropus site at Chouk'outien. Palaeontogia Sinica, Series C 8 (2), 159] In a review of the paper the subsequent year Dietrich created the name
Sinomegaceros as a
subgenus of
Cervus to house the species, with
S. pachyosteus as the
type species.
[Dietrich, W.O., 1933. Review C.C. Young: on the Artiodactyla from the Sinanthropus Site at Choukoutien. Neuest Jahrbuch fu ̈r Miner-alogie, Geologie und Pala ̈ontologie. Referate, III 1933(2), 475–477.] Due to the fact that the name was not published in a formal research paper, it was not widely used for several decades after publication.
The species
S. yabei was named in 1938.
[Shikama, T., 1938. Discovery of giant fallow deer from the Pleistocene in Japan. Japanese Journal of Geology and Geography 16 (1–2), 115–122] In the following decades various researchers considered it a subgenus of
Megaloceros,
[Kahlke, H.D., Hu, C.-k., 1957. On the distribution of Megaceros in China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 1 (4), 273–283 pl. 1.][Kahlke, R.D., 1999. The history of the origin, evolution and dispersal of the Late Pleistocene Mammuthus-Coelodonta faunal complex in Eurasia (large mammals). Mammoth site of Hot Springs, SD, inc., 219.] or a distinct genus.
[Shikama, T., Tsugawa, S., 1962. Megacerid remains from Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Bulletin of the National Science Museum 6 (1), 1–13.][Otsuka, H., Shikama, T., 1977. Studies on fossil deer of the Takao Collection (Pleistocene deer fauna in the Seto Inland Sea, West Japan— Part 1). Bulletin of the National Science Museum 3 (1), 9–40 pls. 1-6.] Several named species are likely to be junior synonyms.
Named species include:
-
Sinomegaceros tadzhikistanis, known from the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene of Tajikistan
-
Sinomegaceros konwanlinensis, from Gongwaling in Northern China, dating to the Early Pleistocene, around 1.6 million years ago.
-
Sinomegaceros fabellatus, known from the late Early Pleistocene-Early Middle Pleistocene of China
-
Sinomegaceros sangwonensis known from the mid-Middle Pleistocene of China
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Sinomegaceros luochuanensis known from the late Middle Pleistocene of China
-
Sinomegaceros baotouensis known from the Late Pleistocene of China
-
Sinomegaceros pachyosteus known from the early Middle Pleistocene to the late Middle Pleistocene or Late Pleistocene of China
-
Sinomegaceros ordosianus, known from the late Middle Pleistocene-Late Pleistocene of China and small adjacent areas of Russian Siberia
-
Sinomegaceros yabei late Middle Pleistocene-Late Pleistocene of Japan
Indeterminate remains of
Sinomegaceros are also known from the Late Pleistocene of the Korean Peninsula.
Sinomegaceros has often been considered closely related to other genera "giant deer", like Praemegaceros and Megaloceros, as part of the tribe Megacerini.
Description
Species of
Sinomegaceros were large deer, with estimated body masses for Chinese Pleistocene species ranging from in
S. pachyosteus to in
S. konwanlinensis, with
S. ordosianus estimated at . Remains attributed to the genus in Central Asia are even larger, with the body mass of
S. tadzhikistanis being estimated at , while an indeterminate species from the Pleistocene locality of Lakhuti 2 in Tajikistan was estimated , making it one of the largest deer known.
The
have palmate (flat and broad) brow tines (the first major branch closest to the base of the antler), with the palmation generally orientated transversely and vertically.
[Citation: Mei HJ, Zhang B, Lei HR, et al. Antler fossil of Sinomegaceros ordosianus from Nanbaishan site of Late Pleistocene age in Yüxian, Hebei Province[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2023, 42(2): 225-237 (In Chinese with English abstract)] The
of
Sinomegaceros, like those of
Megaloceros giganteus, are robust and display
pachyostosis (thickening/high density) with the robustness being the most extreme in
S. pachyosteus.
Ecology
S. yabei and
S. pachyosteus are suggested to have been grazers.
In Late Pleistocene northern China, Sinomegaceros ordosianus co-occurred alongside elephants belonging to the genus Palaeoloxodon, Merck's rhinoceros ( Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis), the woolly rhinoceros ( Coelodonta antiquitatis) the bufallo Bubalus wansijocki, aurochs ( Bos primigenius), the Asiatic wild ass ( Equus hemionus), Goitered gazelle ( Gazella subgutturosa) the camel Camelus knoblochi, Cave hyena ( Crocuta ultima), Tiger ( Panthera tigris), and Przewalski's horse-like horses ( Equus ex gr. przewalskii).
In Middle-Late Pleistocene Japan, S. yabei lived alongside other megafauna species, including the elephant Palaeoloxodon naumanni, sika deer ( Cervus nippon), Japanese serow ( Capricornis crispus), moose ( Alces alces), Siberian musk deer ( Moschus moschiferus), the extinct steppe bison ( Bison priscus) Brown bear ( Ursus arctos), black bears ( Ursus thibetanus), tigers and Wolf ( Canis lupus).
Evolution
One of the oldest species in the genus is
Sinomegaceros tadzhikistanis, known from the
Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene of Tajikistan.
The oldest species of the genus in China is
Sinomegaceros konwanlinensis, from Gongwaling in Northern China, dating to the Early Pleistocene, around 1.6 million years ago.
is known from fossils spanning the latest Early Pleistocene to early Middle Pleistocene.
S.
sangwonensis is known from fossils spanning the mid-Middle Pleistocene. The oldest fossils of
S. pachyosteus date to around 700,000 years ago, during the early Middle Pleistocene. While some authors suggest youngest fossils of the species date to the late Middle Pleistocene,
other sources have suggested that the species persisted into the Late Pleistocene, with reported radiocarbon dates as recent as 35,000 years ago.
The species
S. yabei and
S. ordosianus first appeared during the late Middle Pleistocene.
It has been suggested that both
S. pachyosteus and
S. yabei ultimately derive from
S. konwanlinensis. While often stated to have become extinct around 12,000 years ago, a lack of high-quality radiocarbon dates makes the time of extinction uncertain for
S. yabei, with the only certain radiocarbon dates dating to around 40,000 years ago.
Radiocarbon dates for
S. ordosianus in Northeastern China extend as recently as the Last Glacial Maximum, around 22,000 years ago.
Relationship with humans
Remains of
S. yabei at
Lake Nojiri in Nagano Prefecture of Honshu, Japan, dating to approximately 37,900 to 42,600 years
Before Present have been found associated with spear-shaped wood pieces and large pebbles, with the long bones fractured, with their fragments bearing percussive marks, suggesting that these deer (alongside elephants belonging to the species
Palaeoloxodon naumanni) were butchered by humans at the site, with the long bones likely cracked to extract bone marrow.
is suggested to have likely been hunted by
archaic humans, based on the finds of its remains in Chinese Paleolithic archaeological sites.
External links
