Sinotherium fossil map
Where fossils of Sinotherium have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 5 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 5 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early mammals |
|---|---|
| Lived | 11.63–2.58 million years ago (Tortonian to Piacenzian) |
| Periods | Neogene |
| Family | Rhinocerotidae |
| Named by | Ringstrom 1924 |
| Fossil records | 8 occurrences at 4 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | China, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Russia |
| Rock formations | txn:43187, Magian suite |
About Sinotherium
Sinotherium ("Chinese Beast") is an extinct genus of single-horned elasmotheriine rhinocerotids that lived from the late Miocene (Tortonian - Messinian) to Early Pliocene. It was ancestral to Elasmotherium, demonstrating a very important evolutionary transition from nasal-horned elasmotheriines to frontal-horned elasmotheriines. Its fossils have been found in the Karabulak Formation of Kazakhstan, lower jaw and teeth have been found in Mongolia, and a partial skull is known from the upper part of the Liushu Formation of western China.
Sinotherium diverged from the ancestral genus, Iranotherium, first found in Iran, during the early Pliocene. Some experts prefer to lump Sinotherium, and Iranotherium into Elasmotherium.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Sinotherium (revision 1373003308), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q938485.
