Research paper
Artistic reconstruction of the appearance of Prosantorhinus Heissig, 1974, the teleoceratine rhinoceros from the Middle Miocene of Somosaguas
MARCO ANSÓN
Grupo de Estudio de la Naturaleza AYM, Facultad de Bellas Artes, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, C/ El Greco 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain. paleomarco@yahoo.es
Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, C/ Antonio Nováis 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Corresponding author
MANUEL HERNÁNDEZ-FERNÁNDEZ
Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, C/ Antonio Nováis 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain. hdezfdez@geo.ucm.es
Departamento de Cambio Medioambiental, Instituto de Geociencias (UCM, CSIC), C/ Antonio Nováis 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
ABSTRACT
We show the methodology used to perform the artistic palaeoreconstruction of the teleoceratine rhinoceros Prosantorhinus, which is found in the middle Miocene fossil site of Somosaguas-Norte (Pozuelo de Alarcón, middle Aragonian). Successive phases within this work involved (1) the interpretation of the fossils in comparative anatomy terms; (2) the use of modern analogues, considering the systematic relationships among the extinct species and their extant relatives, which allows us to infer the condition of unpreserved attributes such as soft tissues; and (3) addition of palaeoecological information in order to establish the palaeoenvironmental framework of the species. Our finished work shows a plausible reconstruction of the inferred life appearance of Prosantorhinus.
Keywords: Comparative anatomy, Iberian Peninsula, Mammalia, paleoart, Rhinocerotidae.
How to cite: Ansón, M. & Hernández Fernández, M. 2013. Artistic reconstruction of the appearance of Prosantorhinus Heissig, 1974, the teleoceratine rhinoceros from the Middle Miocene of Somosaguas. Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 28 (1), 43-54.
Received 25 April 2012, Accepted 25 September 2012, Published 30 June 2013
https://doi.org/10.7203/sjp.28.1.17815
