Sinomegaceros

Sinomegaceros Temporal range: Early Pleistocene–Late Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Sinomegaceros yabei at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo
Sinomegaceros pachyosteus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Cervidae
Subfamily:	Cervinae
Tribe:	Cervini
Genus:	†Sinomegaceros Dietrich, 1933
Species
S. yabei Shikama, 1938 S. pachyosteus Young, 1932 S. flabellatus Teilhard de Chardin , 1936 S. konwanlinensis Chow, Hu and Lee, 1965 S. tadzhikistanis Vislobokova, 1988 S. ordosianus Young, 1932
Synonyms
Cervus (Sinomegaceroides) Shikama, 1949 Megaceros (Sinomegaceros) Kahlke & Hu, 1957[1] Mongolomegaceros Shikama & Okafuji, 1958 Megaceraxis Matsumoto, 1963

Sinomegaceros is an extinct genus of deer known from the

The first species of the genus S. ordosianus and S. pachyosteus were named by pioneering Chinese paleontologist C. C. Young as species of Cervus in 1932 for material from Zhoukoudian.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4] The species S. yabei was named in 1938.^[5] In the following decades various researchers considered it a subgenus of Megaloceros,^[6][7] or a distinct genus.^[8][9] Several named species are likely to be junior synonyms.^[4]

Named species include:^[10]

• 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
• 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

Species of Sinomegaceros were large deer, with estimated body masses for Chinese Pleistocene species ranging from 220 kilograms (490 lb) in S. pachyosteus to 365 kilograms (805 lb) in S. konwanlinensis, with S. ordosianus estimated at 330 kilograms (730 lb). Remains attributed to the genus in Central Asia are even larger, with the body mass of S. tadzhikistanis being estimated at 465 kilograms (1,025 lb), while an indeterminate species from the Pleistocene locality of Lakhuti 2 in Tajikistan was estimated 560 kilograms (1,230 lb), making it one of the largest deer known.[13] The antlers have palmate brow tines, with the palmation generally orientated transversely and vertically.^[4][10] The mandibles of Sinomegaceros, like those of Megaloceros giganteus, are robust and display pachyostosis with the robustness being the most extreme in S. pachyosteus.^[4][14]

Ecology

S. yabei and S. pachyosteus are suggested to have been grazers.^[4][14]

Evolution

One of the oldest species in the genus is Sinomegaceros tadzhikistanis, known from the

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 the deer were butchered by humans at the site, with the long bones likely cracked to extract bone marrow.^[17] S. ordosianus is suggested to have likely been hunted by archaic humans, based on the finds of its remains in Chinese Paleolithic archaeological sites.^[10]

References