| Choerolophodon Temporal range: Miocene, | |
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| Genus: | †Choerolophodon Schlesinger, 1917 |
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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. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The tusks growing from the upper jaw are long and strongly curved, [5] with one large mostly complete tusk from the Chalkidiki Peninsula of Greece having a total length of around 2.5 metres (8.2 ft), with a likely total weight when complete of around 70 kilograms (150 lb). [6] The molar teeth are trilophodont and bunodont. The half-lophids are chevroned. The accessory conules are multiplied (choerodont), and the enamel is corrugated (ptychodont). [7] The lower jaw has an unusual combination of being long, but lacking tusks/incisors, a trait only shared among proboscideans with the North American gomphothere genera Eubelodon and Gnathabelodon. [8] It has been suggested that instead of teeth, the end of the lower jaw housed a keratinous cutting blade. [9]
Numerous species of Choerolophodon are known: C. pentelicus, C. anatolicus and C. chioticus from Southeast Europe (Turkey (Yamula Dam in Kayseri), Greece, Bulgaria) and the Middle East, C. palaeindicus and C. corrugatus from the Indian subcontinent, C. guangheensis from China, and C. ngorora and C. zaltaniensis from Africa. [10] The name Choerolophodon was erected for "Mastodon" pentelicus from Greece by Schlesinger (1917) based on the discovery of new material from the pentelicus type locality. [11] A 2022 study considered Choerolophodon to be a basal member of Elephantida, with Amebelodontidae and Gomphotheriidae more closely related to each other than either is to Choerolophodon. [12]
Dental microwear analysis of specimens from Greece suggest that these individuals were grazers, [10] while mesowear analysis of specimens from East Africa suggest varying browsing and grazing-dominated mixed feeding diets, depending on locality. [13]
The genus is first known during the Early Miocene in Africa and South Asia. They subsequently dispersed across Asia and into southeast Europe. The genus became extinct at the end of the Miocene. [7]
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. From the mid-Miocene onwards, most proboscideans were very large. The largest land mammal of all time may have been a proboscidean; Palaeoloxodon namadicus was up to 5.2 m (17.1 ft) at the shoulder and may have weighed up to 22 t, almost double the weight of some sauropods like Diplodocus carnegii. The largest extant proboscidean is the African bush elephant, with a record of size of 4 m (13.1 ft) at the shoulder and 10.4 t. In addition to their enormous size, later proboscideans are distinguished by tusks and long, muscular trunks, which were less developed or absent in early proboscideans.
Mammutidae is an extinct family of proboscideans belonging to Elephantimorpha. It is best known for the mastodons, which inhabited North America from the Late Miocene until their extinction at beginning of the Holocene, around 11,000 years ago. The earliest fossils of the group are known from the Late Oligocene of Africa, around 24 million years ago, and fossils of the group have also been found across Eurasia. The name "mastodon" derives from Greek, μαστός "nipple" and ὀδούς "tooth", referring to their characteristic teeth.
Amebelodon is a genus of extinct proboscidean belonging to Amebelodontidae. The most striking attribute of this animal is its lower tusks, which are narrow, elongated, and distinctly flattened with the degree of flattening varying among the different species. Two valid species are currently placed within this genus, which was endemic to North America. Other species once assigned to Amebelodon are now assigned to the genus Konobelodon, which was once a subgenus.
Gomphotheres are an extinct group of proboscideans related to modern elephants. They were 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 that is ancestral to Elephantidae, which contains modern elephants, as well as Stegodontidae. While most famous forms such as Gomphotherium had long lower jaws with tusks, which is the ancestral condition for the group, some later members developed shortened (brevirostrine) lower jaws with either vestigial or no lower tusks, looking very similar to modern elephants, an example of parallel evolution, which outlasted the long-jawed gomphotheres. By the end of the Early Pleistocene, gomphotheres became extinct in Afro-Eurasia, with the last two genera, Cuvieronius ranging from southern North America to western South America, and Notiomastodon having a wide range over most of South America until the end of the Pleistocene around 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct following the arrival of humans.
Gomphotherium is an extinct genus of gomphothere proboscidean from the Neogene of Eurasia, Africa and North America. 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.
Stegomastodon is an extinct genus of gomphotheres, a family of proboscideans. It ranged throughout North America from the early Blancan ~4 Ma, to the early Irvingtonian. The South American species have been synonymized with Notiomastodon platensis.
Sinomastodon is an extinct gomphothere genus known from the Late Miocene to Early Pleistocene of Asia, including China, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia and probably Kashmir.
Tetralophodon is an extinct genus of "tetralophodont gomphothere" belonging to the superfamily Elephantoidea, known from the Miocene of Afro-Eurasia.
Rhynchotherium is an extinct genus of proboscidea endemic to North America and Central America during the Miocene through Pliocene from 13.650 to 3.6 Ma, living for approximately 10 million years.
Eubelodon is an extinct genus of gomphothere which lived in North America during the Miocene Epoch. It contains a single species: Eubelodon morrilli.
Zygolophodon is an extinct genus of mammutid proboscidean that lived during the Miocene in Africa, Eurasia, and North America.
Notiomastodon is an extinct genus of gomphothere proboscidean, endemic to South America from the Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene. Notiomastodon specimens reached a size similar to that of the modern Asian elephant. Like other brevirostrine gomphotheres such as Cuvieronius and Stegomastodon, Notiomastodon had a shortened lower jaw and lacked lower tusks.
Konobelodon is an extinct genus of amebelodont from southern Europe, China, and North America.
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. 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.
Choerolophodontidae is an extinct family of large herbivorous mammals that were closely related to elephants. Two genera are known, Afrochoerodon and Choerolophodon.
Eozygodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean in the family Mammutidae that is based on a single species, E. morotoensis, named in 1983. It is known from the Early Miocene of Africa and well as possibly the Middle Miocene of China. It is considered a primitive member of the family, retaining a long lower jaw (longirostrine) with lower tusks. The upper tusks are small and are parallel to each other. The body mass is considerably smaller than the American mastodon. Dental mesowear from East African specimens suggests a browsing diet.
Eurybelodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean in the family Amebelodontidae. It lived in the Clarendonian age of the Miocene.
Genera of the order Proboscidea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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