Deinotherium thraceiensis sp. nov. from the Miocene near Ezerovo ...

Nikolov and Dimitar Kovachev were fully aware of
the importance of this very rare case of finding a
whole skeleton of such a huge extinct animal, and
they estimated it to be a representative of a new species
of genus Deinotherium. Ivan Nikolov, well-known
for his thoroughness, wanted to make an exemplary
publication but his early death stopped for a long
time the work on it. The results of his enormous labour
put into the description of the bones, the restoration
and mounting of this unique skeleton, remained
in the archives of the Geological Institute.
After the sudden untimely death of Nikolov in 1984,
the work on the publication remained unfinished.
Now, D. Kovachev decided to prepare the materials
for publication with the clear idea about the responsibility
undertaken, and that the whole blame for eventual
flaws and errors should be addressed to himself.
Such publication would be of importance for the
future studies on genus Deinotherium.
Many scientists have helped the authors in different
time. Prof. Dr. R. Dehm (Director of Universität-Institut
für Paläontologie und historische Geologie
– München) and Prof. Dr. H. Tobien (Director
of Paläontologisches Institut der Johanes-Gutenberg
Universität – Meinz) helped I. Nikolov during the
first studies and restoration. Academician T. Nikolov
(Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
gave valuable advice with the material. D. Kovachev
wishes to express his gratitude to Dr. Marin
Ivanov from the Sofia University for his responsiveness
to the problems of this research. Dr. N. Spassov
(National Natural History Museum, Sofia) kindly
helped with the literature I. Nikolov had used at the
library of the Museum.
Studies on the genus Deinotherium –
a historical review
As early as the 17 century a place near Lyon, France,
was known as “the field of the giants” because of the
large animal bones often found there. Some of those
bones came to Matsorier – a surgeon, who used to
show them for years in France and Germany as the
bones of king Töteboch. Much later, the real tomb of
the king was found, and the deceit was exposed. The
huge bones were transferred to the Natural History
Museum in Paris. Probably these are the first Deinotherium
remains found.
One century later, in 1715, Réaumure admitted
he could not refer the bones to any known animal.
Kenedy supposed in 1775 that the materials were related
to mammoths. G. Cuvier thought in 1779—1836
that the animal had been a large tapir coexisting with
mastodons. He called it Tapir gigantesque and
thought that its tusks were curved upwards.
Kaup created in 1829 the genus Deinotherium with
the species D. giganteum upon the skull and mandible
found near Eppelsheim, Germany. He thought
this was an intermediary form between the sloth and
the mastodons and referred them to the larger taxonomic
unit Curtognati. In 1841 and 1857 he de-
6
scribed further remains of that genus found near
Eppelsheim and Westhofen. According to him, the
adult animals had five teeth in their upper and lower
jaws. In 1833 he described the new species D. cuvieri,
but because it was often found in Bavaria, H. v.
Meyer called it D. bavaricum. This name is still used
today. However, arguments about the exact place and
the life environment of deinotheres still continued.
P. Gervais accepted in 1848 the opinion of Kenedy
and Koch that the genera Deinotherium and Mastodon
should be referred to Proboscidea. He recognized
the existence of three species: D. giganteum Kaup =
Tapir gigantesque Cuvier; D. intermedium and D. cuvieri
Kaup. S. Pictet reported in 1853 about the finding
near the village of Absdorf of a whole skeleton of D.
giganteum Kaup. Only the head, the first two vertebrae,
the corpus of a thoracic and a caudal vertebra and
fragments of the limbs were preserved. These remains
showed that it is close to the mastodon and belongs to
Pachydermae. Four deinothere species were recognized
in 1858—1859 by M. Lartet, and namely, Deinotherium
bavaricum H. v. Meyer, D. giganteum Kaup, D. sp. (an
intermediary form between the first two), and D. cuvieri
Kaup. The first species is known from the Miocene
of France and Bavaria, the second from the Late
Miocene of France, Germany and Greece, the third
and fourth from the Miocene of France. After Lartet,
the dental formula of genus Deinotherium is: I 0-0/1-1;
Pm 2-2/2-2 and M 3-3/3-3 for the permanent teeth,
and for the deciduous – I 0-0/1-1; deciduous molars
3-3/3-3. New fossil finds in Greece (Pikermi), India (Siwalik),
Europe (France, Switzerland, Austria), etc. have
been reported during the last quarter of the 19 th century
by A. Gaudry, H. Hensel, B. A. Lydekker, E. Chantre,
M. Vacek, V. Biber, C. Deperet, and other authors. Gr.
Stefanescu first reported in 1891, and then described
(1895–1910) a deinothere skeleton found near Manzati,
Romania. Because of the large dimensions of all
its bones and teeth, he named it D. gigantissimum. Ehik
(1930) published upper and lower molars and some
finger bones, found in the Pliocene sediments of Hungary,
as a new species – Prodinotherium hungaricum.
Osborn (1936) changed the name of the genus (the
Latinized form Dinotherium) to the ancient Greek
form Deinotherium. He revised all then known
deinothere materials, discussing in details each species,
and illustrating skulls/mandibles and teeth from
D. giganteum Kaup, D. bavaricum H. v. Meyer, D.
cuvieri Kaup, D. pentapotamiae Lydekker, D. indicum
Falconer, etc. (Fig. 1).
Numerous new finds of deinotheres have been reported
during the whole 20 th century from Austria,
Bohemia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Macedonia, Moldova, Pakistan, Romania, Russia,
Serbia, Ukraina, etc.
Studies on the genus Deinotherium
in Bulgaria
The first Deinotherium remains in Bulgaria have been
found by G. Bonchev (Áîí÷åâ, 1897) who made ex-