''Gomphotherium'' (; "welded beast") is an extinct genus of
proboscid
The Proboscidea (; , ) are a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic order (biology), order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (biology), family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger ...
s from the
Neogene
The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...
and early
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
of Eurasia, Africa, North America and Asia. As of 2021, two species, ''G. annectens'' and possibly ''G. subtapiroideum'', are also known from
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
.
Description
Most species of ''Gomphotherium'' were similar in size to the
Asian elephant
The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...
, with ''G. productum'' (known from a 35-year-old male) measuring tall and weighing . The largest species ''G. steinheimense'', known from a complete 37-year-old male found in
Mühldorf
Mühldorf am Inn (Central Bavarian: ''Muihdorf am Inn'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the district Mühldorf on the river Inn. It is located at , and had a population of about 17,808 in 2005.
History
During the Middle Ages, ...
, Germany, measured up to tall and weighed .
It had four
tusk
Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canine teeth, as with pigs and walruses, or, in the case of elephants, elongated incisors. Tusks share c ...
s, two on the upper
jaw
The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serv ...
and two on the elongated lower jaw. The lower tusks are parallel and shaped like a
shovel
A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore.
Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made of ...
and were probably used for digging up food from mud. Unlike modern elephants, the upper tusks were covered by a layer of enamel. Compared to elephants, the
skull
The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
was more elongated and low, indicating that the animal had a short trunk with poor flexibility. These animals probably lived in swamps or near lakes, using their tusks to dig or scrape up aquatic vegetation.
In comparison to earlier proboscideans, ''Gomphotherium'' had far fewer
molars
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 to ...
; the remaining ones had high ridges to expand their grinding surfaces. ''Gomphotherium'' spp. inhabited dry wooded regions near lakes.
Taxonomy
The following
cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ...
shows the placement of the genus ''Gomphotherium'' among other proboscideans, based on
hyoid
The hyoid bone (lingual bone or tongue-bone) () is a horseshoe-shaped bone situated in the anterior midline of the neck between the chin and the thyroid cartilage. At rest, it lies between the base of the mandible and the third cervical vertebra. ...
characteristics:
Gomphotherium NT small.jpg, ''Gomphotherium angustidens''
Gomphotherium productum 3.JPG, ''Gomphotherium productum''
Knight Gomphotherium.jpg, ''G. angustidens'' by Charles R. Knight
Charles Robert Knight (October 21, 1874 – April 15, 1953) was an American wildlife and paleoartist best known for his detailed paintings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. His works have been reproduced in many books and are currently ...
Gomphotherium angustidens 2.jpg, ''G. angustidens'' skeleton
Gomphotherium skeletals.png, Skeletal restoration of ''G. productum'' (right) and ''G. steinheimense'' (left)
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q132604
Cenozoic mammals of Europe
Gomphotheres
Miocene proboscideans
Pliocene proboscideans
Zanclean extinctions
Cenozoic mammals of North America
White River Fauna
Prehistoric placental genera
Fossil taxa described in 1837