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White Rhino Scientific names

The following scientific names have been proposed for the species which is now called White rhinoceros, Ceratotherium simum. The names are given in alphabetical order with information about author, type-specimen and type-locality and a list of combinations found in the literature.

Rhinoceros burchellii Lesson, 1827: 332.
Type-specimen: not designated
Type-locality: interior of Cape (Lesson 1817)

Rhinoceros camus Griffith, 1827: 290.
Type-specimen: not designated
Type-locality: Southern Africa (Griffith 1827)
Date: Description of rhinoceros appeared in Mammals, part 3 of Griffith, which may have been published in 1816; cf. C.F. Cowan. 'Notes of Griffith's Animal Kingdom of Cuvier (1824-1835). Journal of the Society for the bibliography of natural history, 5 (2): 137- 140 (1969).

Rhinoceros simus cottoni Lydekker, 1908: 319.
Type-specimen: skull and horns in British Museum (Natural History), donated by P.H.G. Powell-Cotton.
Type-locality: Lado dt., Sudan (Lydekker 1908).
Combinations used for this taxon:
Ceratotherium cottoni
Ceratotherium simum cottoni
Diceros simus cottoni
Rhinoceros simus cottoni
Rhinoceros (Centotherium) simus cottoni
Rhinoceros (Diceros) simus cottoni

Rhinoceros kiaboaba Murray, 1866: 338.
Note: Murray mentioned in a list of species: ‘[R.] Kiaboaba Livingst. Central Africa' without further description. Livingstone (1857: 71) found near Lake Ngami the 'kuabaoba, or straight-horned rhinoceros (R. Oswellii), which is a variety of the white rhinoceros.’

Rhinoceros oswelli Elliot, in Oswell & Vardon 1847: 183.
Type-specimen: not designated. Gray (1853) described a pair of horns as R. oswellii. British Museum (Natural History), no. 1853.4.18.1.
Type-locality: the banks of thc Makolwe river, tributuary of the Limpopo (Oswell & Vardon 1847), Northern Transvaal.
Combinations used for this taxon:
Ceratotherium oswellii
Rhinaster oswellii
Rhinoceros oswellii

Rhinoceros simus Burchell, 1817.
Type-specimen: holotype not designated. Cave 1962b: 694 (Lectotype: Oxford University Museum, no. 8221, O.C. 1568,from W.Burchell; seven other syntypes
in same collection).
Type-locality: Interior of South Africa (Burchell 1817). Cave 1947: 142 (restricted to Chue Spring, ca. 26' 15' S, 23' 10'E, on the Makuba range, Bechuanaland).
Derivation of name simus: Greek ????? or Latin simus (flat-nosed, snub-nosed).
Combinations used for this taxon:
Atelodus simus
Ceratorhinus simus
Ceratotherium simum
Ceratotherium simum simum
Dicerorhinus simus
Diceros simus
Diceros simus simus
Diceros (Ceratotherium) simum
Diceros (Ceratotherium) simum simum
Opsiceros simus
Rhinaster simus
Rhinoceros simus
Rhinoceros (Atelodus) simus
Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium) simus
Rhinoceros (Diceros [Ceratotherium]) simus
Rhinoceros (Diceros) simus
Rhinoceros (Diceros) simus simus

Campbell’s Rhinoceros
Campbell 1821, l822 (animal collected near Mashow, S. Africa, with a long straight anterior horn and a much smaller posterior horn)