Gomphothere
Gomphothere Temporal range:
Late Oligocene - Holocene | |
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Specimen of Gomphotherium productum at the American Museum of Natural History | |
Notiomastodon platensis Centro Cultural del Bicentenario de Santiago del Estero in Argentina | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Proboscidea |
Superfamily: | †Gomphotherioidea |
Family: | †Gomphotheriidae (Hay, 1922) A. Cabrera 1929 |
Genera | |
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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.
The name "gomphothere" comes from Ancient Greek γόμφος (gómphos), "peg, pin; wedge; joint" plus θηρίον (theríon), "beast".
Description
Gomphotheres differed from elephants in their
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Largely unworn molar ofGomphotherium angustidens, a "trilophodont gomphothere"
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Worn molar of Gomphotherium angustidens
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Molar of Tetralophodon, a "tetralophodont gomphothere "
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Molar of a modern African elephant (Loxodonta) for comparison
Taxonomy
"Gomphotheres" are assigned to their own family, Gomphotheriidae, but are widely agreed to be a
Ecology
Gomphotheres are generally supposed to have been flexible feeders, with the various species having differing browsing, mixed feeding and grazing diets, with the dietary preference of individual species and populations being shaped by local factors such as climactic conditions and competition.[11] Analysis of the tusks of a male Notiomastodon individual suggest that it underwent musth, similar to modern elephants.[12] Notiomastiodon is also suggested to have lived in social family groups, like modern elephants.[13]
Evolutionary history
Gomphotheres originated in Afro-Arabia during the mid-
The extinction of gomphotheres in Afro-Eurasia has generally been supposed to be the result the expansion of Elephantidae and Stegodon.[19][27] The morphology of elephantid molars being more efficient than gomphotheres in consuming grass, which became more abundant during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs.[27] In the New World, gomphotheres did not become extinct until shortly after the arrival of humans to the Americas, approximately 12,000 years ago. Bones of the last gomphothere genera, Cuvieronius and Notiomastodon, dating to shortly before their extinction have been found associated with human artifacts, suggesting that hunting may have played a role in their extinction.[22]
References
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- S2CID 214094348.
- ISSN 0891-2963.
- ^ PMID 26756209.
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- PMID 26756209.
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- PMID 29769581.
- ISSN 0094-8373.
- .
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- ISBN 978-1-315-11891-8.
- ^ S2CID 235712060. Retrieved 21 August 2021 – via Escience.magazine.org.
- S2CID 90593535.
- ^ Spencer LG 2022. The last North American gomphotheres. N Mex Mus Nat Hist Sci. 88:45–58.
- .
- ^ S2CID 247653516.
- ISBN 978-3-030-68397-9, retrieved 2023-03-25
- S2CID 254703858.
- ^ .
- S2CID 245023119, retrieved 2023-03-23
- S2CID 91391249.
- .
- .
- ^ S2CID 883007.
External links
- "Buried Treasure in the Sierra Nevada Foothills". Sierra College. (article about a fossil exhibit at the Sierra College Natural History Museum)
- "Gomphothere description including images". Sierra College.
- ""King Tusk" Gomphothere Excavation". Sierra College. (photos from the excavation of a Gomphothere skeleton on the Sierra College website)
- "The Gomphotheriidae". University of California Museum of Paleontology.