Dietary variation and overlap in Central and Northwest European Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis and S. hemitoechus (Rhinocerotidae, Mammalia) influenced by habitat diversity

作者：van Asperen Eline N^*; Kahlke Ralf Dietrich

来源：Quaternary Science Reviews, 2015, 107: 47-61.

DOI：10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.10.001

• Pleistocene rhinoceroses
• Stephanorhinus
• Dietary specialisation
• Mesowear
• Habitat diversity

To trace the dietary evolution of the two abundant Middle to Late Pleistocene rhinoceros species Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis and Stephanorhinus hemitoechus in Europe over several climatic cycles, we examined comprehensive material of stratigraphically well-defined palaeopopulations from different regions and interglacials. Using morphometrics and mesowear analysis, these reconstructions of Stephanorhinus diets indicate that habitat diversity and interspecific competition with closely related rhinoceros species induced variation in feeding behaviour. Although anatomical features of both species suggest significantly higher dietary specializations compared to the Early to early Middle Pleistocene Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis, their mesowear signals are characteristic of a mixed feeder diet, similar to that of extant mammal species in relatively open habitats. Both species retained a degree of dietary flexibility, enabling them to survive in a range of environments. Although each of these rhinoceroses preferred different habitats, species identity alone is not sufficient to establish the real dietary traits of a Stephanorhinus palaeopopulation. As a consequence, their occurrence in a faunal assemblage alone cannot be taken to indicate a specific habitat.
S. kirchbergensis and S. hemitoechus were embedded in a dynamic process of temporo-spatial replacements and interspecific differentiation of rhinoceroses in the western Palaearctic. However, dietary specialization in these Middle to Late Pleistocene European rhinoceroses was not the result of a directed time-transgressive evolution. Rather, within the range of each species' ecological tolerance, it was controlled by environmental parameters, with habitat variability as the main factor.

• 出版日期2015-1-1