| Torynobelodon Temporal range: Miocene, | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Proboscidea |
| Family: | † Amebelodontidae |
| Subfamily: | † Platybelodontinae |
| Genus: | † Torynobelodon Barbour, 1929 |
| Type species | |
| †Torynobelodon loomisi Barbour, 1929 | |
| Species | |
| |
Torynobelodon was a genus of large herbivorous mammal related to the elephant (order Proboscidea). It lived during the late Miocene Epoch in Asia and North America.
Shoshani (1996) placed Torynobelodon as a synonym of Platybelodon, but Lambert and Shoshani (1998) considered it morphologically distinct to be a separate genus. [1] [2] A 2016 cladistic study found it to be more primitive than either Platybelodon and Aphanobelodon. [3]
The Proboscidea are 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.
A mastodon is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus Mammut that inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of the Pleistocene 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. Mastodons lived in herds and were predominantly forest-dwelling animals. They survived on a mixed diet and obtained food by browsing and grazing, somewhat similar to their distant relatives, modern elephants, but probably with greater emphasis on browsing
Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous mammals collectively called elephants and mammoths. These are terrestrial large mammals with a snout modified into a trunk and teeth modified into tusks. Most genera and species in the family are extinct. Only two genera, Loxodonta and Elephas, are living.
Mammutidae is an extinct family of proboscideans that appeared during the Oligocene epoch and survived until the start of the Holocene. The family was first described in 1922, classifying fossil specimens of the type genus Mammut (mastodons), and has since been placed in various arrangements of the order. The name "mastodon" derives from Greek, μαστός "nipple" and ὀδούς "tooth", as with the genus, referring to a characteristic that distinguishes them from allied families. The genus Zygolophodon has also been assigned to this family. Mammutids ranged very widely, with fossils found in North America, Africa, and throughout Eurasia.
Platybelodon was a genus of large herbivorous mammals related to the elephant. It lived during the middle Miocene Epoch in Africa, Asia and the Caucasus.
Amebelodon is a genus of extinct proboscidean belonging to Amebelodontidae, a group of proboscideans related to the modern elephants and their close relative the mammoth. 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 any members of the diverse, extinct taxonomic family Gomphotheriidae. Gomphotheres were elephant-like proboscideans, but not belonging to the family Elephantidae. They were widespread in North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, 12–1.6 million years ago (Mya). Some lived in parts of Eurasia, Beringia, and South America following the Great American Interchange. While most famous forms such as Gomphotherium had long lower jaws with tusks, which is the ancestral condition for the group, after these forms became extinct, the surviving gomphotheres had short jaws with either vestigal or no lower tusks (brevirostrine), looking very similar to modern elephants, an example of parallel evolution. Beginning after 2 Mya, they were gradually replaced by mammoths and mastodons in most of North America, with the last two genera, Cuvieronius persisting in southern North America and Notiomastodon having a wide range over most of South America, until the end of the Pleistocene, around 11,000 years ago.
Gomphotherium is an extinct genus of proboscids from the Neogene and early Pleistocene of Eurasia, Africa, North America and possibly also Asia.
Anancus is an extinct genus of anancid proboscidean endemic to Africa, Europe, and Asia, that lived from the Tortonian stage of the late Miocene until the genus' extinction during the early Pleistocene, roughly from 8.5–1.5 million years ago.
The steppe mammoth is an extinct species of Elephantidae that ranged over most of northern Eurasia during the late Early and Middle Pleistocene, approximately 1.8 million-200,000 years ago. It evolved in Siberia during the Early Pleistocene from Mammuthus meridionalis. It was the first stage in the evolution of the steppe and tundra elephants and the ancestor of the woolly mammoth and Columbian mammoth of the later Pleistocene. Populations of steppe mammoth may have persisted in northern China and Mongolia as recently as 33,000 years ago.
Jeheskel "Hezy" Shoshani was an evolutionary biologist who studied elephants and their relatives for over 35 years.
Tetralophodon is an extinct elephantoid genus belonging to the family Anancidae.
Paratetralophodon is an extinct genus of elephant from late Neogene deposits in India and China. Although usually classified in Gomphotheriidae, recent studies find it to be more closely related to modern elephants.
Eubelodon is an extinct genus of gomphothere which lived in North America during the Miocene Epoch. It contains a single species: Eubelodon morrilli. Like other gomphotheres it had a superficially elephant-like appearance with a trunk and tusks.
Notiomastodon is an extinct proboscidean genus of gomphotheres endemic to South America from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. It was among the last known gomphotheres and one of two South American gomphotheres alongside Cuvieronius, and was the predominant gomphothere on the continent ranging widely over most of South America excluding the high Andes. The species has a long and convoluted taxonomic history due to its morphological variability and confusion with related gomphothere taxa, which was only resolved during the 2010s.
Stegodontidae is an extinct family of Stegodon-like proboscideans that was endemic to Africa and Asia from the Miocene (15.97 mya) to the Late Pleistocene, with some studies suggesting that some survived into the Holocene in China, although this is disputed.
Konobelodon is a genus of amebelodont from southern Europe, China, and North America.
Amebelodontidae is an extinct family of large herbivorous mammals that were closely related to elephants. They were formerly assigned to Gomphotheriidae, but recent authors consider them a distinct family.
The Anancidae are an extinct family of large herbivorous mammals that were closely related to modern elephants. They were assigned to the Gomphotheriidae in the past, but recent authors consider them a distinct family. Under the Gomphotheriidae sensu lato, they were known as the tetralophodont gompotheres based on their molar morphology.
Eurybelodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean in the family Amebelodontidae.
Genera of the order Proboscidea | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
  | ||
 | This article about a prehistoric proboscidean is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
