''Diceros praecox'' is an extinct species of

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

that lived in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58black rhinoceros The black rhinoceros, black rhino or hook-lipped rhinoceros (''Diceros bicornis'') is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern and southern Africa including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania ...

''(Diceros bicornis)''.

Taxonomy

''Diceros praecox'' has for many years been classified as ''Ceratotherium praecox'', however the original material describing the species has been shown to be closer to the black rhinoceros in its skull morphology. Other material showing greater similarities with the

white rhinoceros The white rhinoceros, white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum'') is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing (behaviour), grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white ...

are considered to belong to a different species, ''

Ceratotherium mauritanicum ''Ceratotherium mauritanicum'' is a species of fossil African rhinoceros found in the Late Pliocene to earliest Holocene of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. Slightly older fossils from the Pliocene of eastern Africa were also proposed to bel ...

''. ''D. praecox'' likely arose from ''

Ceratotherium neumayri ''Ceratotherium neumayri'' is a fossil species of rhinoceros from the eastern Mediterranean, in the Anatolia region in modern Turkey, dating to the late Miocene. It is the likely ancestor of both the white rhinoceros and black rhinoceros lineages ...

''.

Description

The teeth of ''D. praecox'' are similar to those of ''Ceratotherium neumayri''. However, the longer skull suggests increased browsing specialization. The break-off of ''Diceros'' from ''Ceratotherium'' probably indicates ecological divergence and character displacement between browsing versus grazing specializations.

References

Pliocene mammals of Africa Pliocene rhinoceroses {{Paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub