Paleontologists have identified a new Early Miocene species of rhinoceroses Epiaceatherium from fossil remains found in Canada's High Arctic.
Life restoration Epiaceatherium itzhilikin its woodland habitat on the lake, Devon Island; the plants and animals shown are based on fossil finds at the site, including transitional seal species. Poohila Darwin. Image credit: Julius Csotoni.
A new species of rhinoceroses lived in the territory of modern Canada about 23 million years ago (Early Miocene era).
Named Epiaceatherium itzhilikit is most closely related to other rhino species that flourished in Europe millions of years ago.
“There are only five species of rhinoceros in Africa and Asia today, but in the past they were found in Europe and North America, with more than 50 species known from the fossil record,” said Dr. Danielle Fraser, a researcher at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Carleton University and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
“The addition of this Arctic species to the rhino family tree now provides new insight into our evolutionary history.”
Epiaceatherium itzhilik was relatively small and light, similar in size to the modern Indian rhinoceros, but without a horn.
The fossilized remains of the animal were discovered in fossil-rich lake sediments in Haughton Crater on Devon Island in Nunavut.
“What's remarkable about the Arctic rhinoceros is that its fossil bones are in excellent condition,” said Dr. Marisa Gilbert, also of the Canadian Museum of Nature.
“They are preserved in three dimensions and are only partially replaced by minerals.”
“About 75% of the skeleton was recovered, which is incredibly complete for a fossil.”
The authors posted Epiaceatherium itzhilik in the rhino family tree, examining the appearance of 57 other rhino species, almost all of which have gone extinct.
The results were obtained by visiting museum collections, studying scientific literature and using databases.
The researchers were also able to geographically place each rhinoceros into one of five continental regions.
This was an exhaustive process – each species was assessed based on where it was found, using a mathematical modeling approach to determine the rate of distribution among different continents within the family Rhinocerotidae.
The team's analysis offers new insight into how rhinos spread between North America and Europe (via Greenland) over millions of years using the North Atlantic Land Bridge.
Previous research has suggested that this land bridge may have functioned as a settlement corridor only about 56 million years ago.
But a new analysis with Epiaceatherium itzhilik and related species suggest that dispersal from Europe to North America occurred much later, perhaps as early as the Miocene.
“Describing a new species is always exciting and educational,” Dr Fraser said.
“But there is something else that follows from the identification Epiaceatherium itzhilikas our reconstructions of rhino evolution show that the North Atlantic played a much more important role in their evolution than previously thought.”
“More broadly, this study confirms that the Arctic continues to offer new knowledge and discoveries that expand our understanding of mammal diversification over time.”
results appear in the magazine Ecology of nature and evolution.
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D. Fraser etc.. Middle Cenozoic dispersal of rhinoceroses across the North Atlantic. Nat Ecol Evolpublished online October 28, 2025; doi: 10.1038/s41559-025-02872-8
