Paleoecology and biostratigraphy of late Miocene Rhinocerotidae of Anatolia

Rhinoceros, whose strains are almost extinct today, are one of the most prevalent successful mammal groups living from 40 million years to now. While rhinos that appeared in different places of the world in different era were seen for the first time in the Northern Hemisphere during the Middle Eocene period, they appeared in the Early Miocene period in Africa. Totally, it is represented by 41 genera and 142 species from the Middle Eocean to the present. However, in Anatolia there are Rhinocerotidae foundling in 78 locations. As a result of the analaysing, 19 species and breeds were identified. It contains 10 different common genera in these localities: Aceratherium, Acerorhinus, Begertherium, Beliajevina, Brachypotherium, Ceratotherium, Chilotherium, Dicerorhinus, Dihoplus, Hoploaceratherium. Additionally, it is seen that Chilotherium and Ceratotherium which are among the most extensive and common finds in the Anatolian Late Miocene Period, were dominant and these species mostly share the same ecological environments. Rhinoceros is a successful mammal group that has adapted to the changing seasonal environments in the Anatolian Miocene period with a harder and more abrasive diet. Considering the formations, it is seen that the geological periods in the Miocene period, depending on the physical and climatic conditions, the ecological conditions are constantly changing and these species adapt to the changes and react with evolutionary changes. In this thesis, it is seen that the species diversity is at the highest levels from the Early Miocene to the Late Miocene period, and it is certain that the species diversity decreased again in the late Miocene. When examined in general, it is seen that the diets, morphological features and ecology of Anatolian rhinos are constantly changing. Especially in the early and mid-Miocene period, it was understood that there was a partly open and semi-forested, rainy and humid habitat consisting of many lakes of Anatolia. It is observed that the forest habitat disappeared at the end of the Middle Miocene and Early Miocene and the Anatolian forest areas were replaced by open and steppe areas consisting of small lakes and marshes.