Proboscidea is a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. Three species of elephant are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant.
The molars or molar teeth are large, flat teeth at the back of the mouth. They are more developed in mammals. They are used primarily to grind food during chewing. The name molar derives from Latin, molaris dens, meaning "millstone tooth", from mola, millstone and dens, tooth. Molars show a great deal of diversity in size and shape across the mammal groups. The third molar of humans is sometimes vestigial.
A mastodon is a member of the genus Mammut, which, strictly defined, was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to the early Holocene. Mastodons belong to the order Proboscidea, the same order as elephants and mammoths. Mammut is the type genus of the extinct family Mammutidae, which diverged from the ancestors of modern elephants at least 27–25 million years ago, during the Oligocene.
Deinotherium is an extinct genus of large, elephant-like proboscideans that lived from about the middle-Miocene until the early Pleistocene. Although its appearance is reminiscent of modern elephants, Deinotherium possessed a notably more flexible neck, with limbs adapted to a more cursorial lifestyle, as well as tusks which grew down and curved back from the mandible, as opposed to the forward-growing maxillary tusks of extant elephants. Deinotherium was a widespread genus, ranging from East Africa, north to Southern Europe, and east to the Indian subcontinent. They were primarily browsing animals, with a diet largely consisting of leaves. The genus most likely went extinct due to environmental changes, such as forested areas gradually being replaced by open grasslands, during the latter half of the Neogene. Deinotherium thrived the longest in Africa, where they were found into the early Pleistocene.
Gomphotheres are an extinct group of proboscideans related to modern elephants, widespread across Afro-Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs and dispersed into South America during the Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange. Gomphotheres are a paraphyletic group ancestral to Elephantidae, which contains modern elephants, as well as Stegodontidae.
Gomphotherium is an extinct genus of gomphothere proboscidean from the Neogene of Eurasia, Africa and North America. It is the most diverse genus of gompothere, with over a dozen valid species. The genus is probably paraphyletic.
Anancus is an extinct genus of "tetralophodont gomphothere" native to Afro-Eurasia, that lived from the Tortonian stage of the late Miocene until its extinction during the Early Pleistocene, roughly from 8.5–2 million years ago.
Cuvieronius is an extinct New World genus of gomphothere which ranged from southern North America to western South America during the Pleistocene epoch. Among the last gomphotheres, it became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 12,000 years ago, following the arrival of humans to the Americas.
Mammuthus meridionalis, sometimes called the southern mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth native to Eurasia, including Europe, during the Early Pleistocene, living from around 2.5 million years ago to 800,000 years ago.
Pyrotherium is an extinct genus of South American ungulate, of the order Pyrotheria, that lived in what is now Argentina and Bolivia, during the Late Oligocene. It was named Pyrotherium because the first specimens were excavated from an ancient volcanic ash deposit. Fossils of the genus have been found in the Deseado and Sarmiento Formations of Argentina and the Salla Formation of Bolivia.
Numidotherium is an extinct genus of early proboscideans, discovered in 1984, that lived during the middle Eocene of North Africa some 46 million years ago. It was about 90–100 cm (35–39 in) tall at the shoulder and weighed about 250–300 kg (550–660 lb).
Lufengpithecus is an extinct genus of ape, known from the Late Miocene of East Asia. It is known from thousands of dental remains and a few skulls and probably weighed about 50 kg (110 lb). It contains three species: L. lufengensis, L. hudienensis and L. keiyuanensis. Lufengpithecus lufengensis is from the Late Miocene found in China, named after the Lufeng site and dated around 6.2 Ma. Lufengpithecus is either thought to be the sister group to Ponginae, or the sister to the clade containing Ponginae and Homininae.
Gnathabelodon is an extinct genus of gomphothere endemic to North America that includes species that lived during the Middle to Late Miocene.
Ustatochoerus is an extinct genus of oreodont of the family Merycoidodontidae, endemic to North America. It lived during the late Oligocene to Miocene, 24–10.3 mya, existing for approximately 14 mya. Fossils are widespread through the central and western United States.
Choerolophodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean that lived during the Miocene of Eurasia and Africa. Fossils of Choerolophodon have been found in Africa, Southeast Europe, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, the Indian subcontinent, and China.
The Goliad Formation (Tg) is a geologic formation in Texas. It preserves fossils dating back to the Serravallian to earliest Pliocene stages of the Neogene period, including the gomphothere Blancotherium among many other fossil mammals, reptiles, birds and fish.
Sinomammut is a mammutid proboscidean from the Miocene of China. Only one species, S. tobieni, is known, named in 2016.
Amebelodontidae is an extinct family of large herbivorous proboscidean mammals related to elephants. They were formerly assigned to Gomphotheriidae, but recent authors consider them a distinct family. They are distinguished from other proboscideans by having flattened lower tusks and very elongate mandibular symphysis. The lower tusks could grow to considerable size, with those of Konobelodon reaching 1.61 metres (5.3 ft) in length. Their molar teeth are typically trilophodont, and possessed posttrite conules. In the past, amebelodonts' shovel-like mandibular tusks led to them being portrayed scooping up water plants, however, dental microwear suggests that they were browsers and mixed feeders. The lower tusks have been proposed to have had a variety of functions depending on the species, including stripping bark, cutting through vegetation, as well as possibly digging. They first appeared in Africa during the Early Miocene, and subsequently dispersed into Eurasia and then North America. They became extinct by the beginning of the Pliocene. While some phylogenetic studies have recovered Amebelodontidae as a monophyletic group that forms the sister group to Gomphotheriidae proper, some authors have argued that Amebelodontidae may be polyphyletic, with it being suggested that the shovel-tusked condition arose several times independently within Gomphotheriidae, thus rendering the family invalid.
Hyperailurictis is an extinct genus of felid from Miocene North America. The Hyperailurictis species are Pseudaelurus-grade felids and thought to be the first felids in the Americas.
Leptorhynchos is an extinct genus of caenagnathid theropod from the Late Cretaceous of what is now the US state of Texas, although it has been suggested to also exist in Alberta and South Dakota. The type species is L. gaddisi, and it is currently the only widely accepted valid species. The generic name of Leptorhynchos comes from the Greek "leptos" meaning "small" and "rhynchos" meaning "beak". The specific epithet is in honor of the Gaddis family, who owned the land on which the holotype was discovered.
