A fossilized rhinoceros skull at least 8 million years old has been found in the town of Sitia on the Greek island of Crete, the Greek news agency ANA reported Tuesday. The discovery places a well-preserved late Miocene specimen in one of the Mediterranean's most closely watched paleontological settings.
The skull belongs to Dihoplus pikermiensis, a rhinoceros species dated to roughly 8 million to 8.5 million years ago. Researchers are now examining the find closely, and Greek media have highlighted the intact teeth preserved in the animal's upper jaw.
An 8-million-year-old rhino skull from Sitia
Scientists conducting paleontological research in March in the Magantze and Trapeza areas of Sitia Geopark came across fossilized bones, including the skull. The site lies within a protected landscape whose fossil record runs unusually deep: Sitia Geopark is part of the global network of geoparks of the U.N. agency UNESCO, and its paleontological history spans nearly 300 million years.
What has drawn particular attention are three intact molars from the upper left jaw. Those teeth are under close study for what they can reveal about the animal's diet and its age.
What kind of animal was Dihoplus pikermiensis?
Dihoplus pikermiensis was a massive, two-horned rhinoceros that lived during the late Miocene. It is described as a typical species of the so-called Pikermian fauna, the community of animals that inhabited western Eurasia during that period.
That context matters. The Pikermian fauna is a recognized association of large mammals, and a rhinoceros of this species is one of its characteristic members. A specimen recovered on Crete therefore ties the island's fossil beds to a much broader story about animal life across western Eurasia millions of years before the present.
The description of the animal as two-horned is itself significant for how paleontologists reconstruct extinct species. Rhinoceros horns are made of keratin rather than bone, so they rarely survive in the fossil record. Skull material, jaws and teeth therefore carry much of the evidence for what these animals looked like and how they lived.
Why the location makes the find notable
Crete today is an island, but the Mediterranean region has been reshaped repeatedly by tectonic movement and shifts in sea level over millions of years. Fossil beds such as those at Sitia preserve a record of terrestrial life from a time when the regional map looked very different from the one we know.
A skull is only part of the evidence
The skull was recovered among other fossilized bones, which gives researchers more than a single specimen to work from as they examine how the material came to be preserved. Large plant-eating mammals such as rhinoceroses are well represented in many fossil assemblages, and combining a skull with additional bones helps build a fuller picture of the deposit and the environment that produced it.
Why three intact molars matter
Teeth are among the most durable parts of a vertebrate skeleton, which is why paleontologists frequently recover them when other elements have eroded away. Enamel withstands chemical and physical weathering better than bone does, so a jaw holding complete molars is a valuable find.
Diet
Chewing surfaces preserve a record of how an animal processed its food. Wear patterns, crests and ridges on the molars give researchers a way to reason about the kinds of vegetation an individual was eating, and by extension about the landscape it inhabited.
Age
Mammal teeth erupt in a sequence and wear progressively over a lifetime. Because of that, the degree of wear visible on the three molars can help researchers estimate how old the rhinoceros was when it died, complementing the broader dating of the fossil-bearing layers.
Sitia Geopark and a 300-million-year record
Sitia Geopark belongs to the UNESCO global geoparks network, a designation reserved for areas of international geological significance. Its paleontological history stretches back nearly 300 million years, taking in far more than the late Miocene interval represented by the rhino skull.
That depth is part of why the region attracts scientific attention. A long, layered sequence of fossil-bearing rock allows researchers to compare specimens from different periods and to place individual finds such as the Dihoplus skull within a wider chronology.
What comes next
The immediate task is the detailed study of the skull and its molars. The announcement, carried by ANA and picked up by Greek media, marks the beginning of that process rather than its conclusion. Questions about the animal's diet, its age at death and the precise dating of the surrounding beds are the kinds of details that laboratory work and further fieldwork typically resolve.
Excavation in the Magantze and Trapeza areas has already produced fossilized bones beyond the skull, and the geopark's long record means the site is likely to remain a focus of paleontological work on Crete.
Key facts at a glance
- Species: Dihoplus pikermiensis, a massive, two-horned rhinoceros.
- Age: at least 8 million years old, dated to between 8 million and 8.5 million years.
- Epoch: the late Miocene.
- Location: the Magantze and Trapeza areas of Sitia Geopark, near the town of Sitia, Crete.
- Found: during paleontological research in March, alongside other fossilized bones.
- Preserved features: three intact molars from the upper left jaw.
- Context: the species is a typical member of the Pikermian fauna of western Eurasia.
- Reported by: the Greek news agency ANA, with coverage in Greek media.
This article is based on reporting by Phys.org. Read the original article.
Originally published on phys.org
