''Nesorhinus'' is a genus of rhinocerotid

perissodactyl Odd-toed ungulates, mammals which constitute the taxonomic order Perissodactyla (, ), are animals—ungulates—who have reduced the weight-bearing toes to three (rhinoceroses and tapirs, with tapirs still using four toes on the front legs) o ...

from the Pleistocene of Asia. It contains two species, ''

Nesorhinus philippinensis ''Nesorhinus philippinensis'' is a Pleistocene-aged species of rhinoceros endemic to the Philippine islands. Fossil remains were found in modern day Metro Manila and Kalinga. It is estimated to have weighed around or less than 800kg, or at leas ...

'' from Luzon, Philippines and ''Nesorhinus hayasakai'' (formerly ''Rhinoceros sinensis hayasakai'') from Taiwan.

Evolution

Phylogenetically, ''Nesorhinus'' is the sister taxon to a clade consisting of ''

Dicerorhinus ''Dicerorhinus'' (Greek: "two" (dio), "horn" (keratos), "nose" (rhinos)) is a genus of the family Rhinocerotidae, consisting of a single extant species, the two-horned Sumatran rhinoceros (''D. sumatrensis''), and several extinct species. The gen ...

'' and ''

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 ...

''. Its describers suggested it island-hopped from the Asian mainland to Taiwan and Luzon sometime during the Late Miocene or later. ''Nesorhinus philippinensis'' was smaller and less robust than other rhinocerotids, suggesting it was subject to

insular dwarfism Insular dwarfism, a form of phyletic dwarfism, is the process and condition of large animals evolving or having a reduced body size when their population's range is limited to a small environment, primarily islands. This natural process is disti ...

, the first perissodactyl known to be so.

References

Rhinoceroses Prehistoric placental genera Fossil taxa described in 2021 Fauna of the Philippines {{oddtoedungulate-stub