The Zinda Pir rhino has dental features that do not warrant its placement in an existing genus, the erection of a new genus, or even its placement into a rhinocerotine subtribe. Taken together, the features and size of the Zinda Pir rhinoceros do not suggest a close relationship to the currently described rhinoceros genera of the Dera Bugti Valley and Gandoi Plain reviewed above. The character of the zygomatic arch provides little support of this species’ connection to the Teleoceratina unless this portion of the cranium is like Brachypotherium. Moreover, except for size, its limited cingula, and broader metacone region, the general morphology of the molars including the accessory cuspules and extensive protocone constriction have a rudimentary likeness to the ambiguous Rhinoceros blandfordi. It is possible Z143/Z147 rhinoceros has a closer phylogenetic connection to Rhinoceros blandfordi representing a larger and possibly more advanced form.
It is not extraordinary that the rhinoceros from the upper unit of the Chitarwata Formation does not have an ancestral or complementary record at Bugti Hills. The commoness of rhinocerotoid genera in Asia and India during the Oligocene makes it clear that the Himalayan Foreland was not isolated by physical barriers to dispersal. This barrier-free condition lasted through the early Miocene, evidenced by first appearances of rhinoceros in Pakistan and subsequent appearances in Europe during this interval (Antoine et al. 2000a, 2000b, 2003a). Hence it is also possible this large rhinoceros will ultimately be determined to have an ancestry elsewhere in Asia or Europe. Alternatively, this upper Chitarwata Formation rhinoceros may be endemic but remain an enigmatic part of the diverse early Miocene rhinoceros of the Indian subcontinent until the more definitive remains can be collected from strata recording its coastal habitat.