''Gnathabelodon'' is an extinct genus of gomphothere (a sister group to modern elephants) endemic to North America that includes species that lived during the Middle to Late Miocene. ''"Gnathabelodon" buckneri'' Sellards, 1940 has been renamed ''

Blancotherium ''Blancotherium'' (meaning "Blanco Creek beast") is an extinct genus of Gomphotheriidae, gomphotheriid Proboscidea, proboscidean from Texas. May, SR; 2019 "The Lapara Creek Fauna: Early Clarendonian of south Texas, USA" ...

''.

Description

It has been called the "spoon-billed mastodon" since its lower jaw was elongated and shaped like a shoe-horn or spoon. The flaring of the tip of the lower jaw was similar to that of the "shovel-tuskers" (''

Platybelodon ''Platybelodon'' ("flat-spear tusk") is an extinct genus of large herbivorous proboscidean mammals related to modern-day elephants. Species lived during the middle Miocene Epoch in Africa, Asia and the Caucasus. Palaeobiology ''Platybelodon'' w ...

'' and ''

Amebelodon ''Amebelodon'' is a genus of extinct proboscidean belonging to Amebelodontidae (the so-called shovel-tuskers), a group of proboscideans related to the modern elephants and their close relative the mammoth. The most striking attribute of this ani ...

''); however, ''Gnathabelodon'' species are distinct in having no lower tusks whilst the "shovel tuskers" have broad, flattened lower tusks. The upper tusks are large and curve outwards and upwards. With respect to dentition and overall body form, it was similar to species of ''

Gomphotherium ''Gomphotherium'' (; "welded beast") is an extinct genus of proboscids from the Neogene and early Pleistocene of Eurasia, Africa, North America and Asia. As of 2021, two species, ''G. annectens'' and possibly ''G. subtapiroideum'', are also k ...

'', but Mothe et al. (2016) recover ''Gnathabelodon'' as closer to brevirostrine gomphotheriids than to ''Gomphotherium''.Mothé, Dimila; Ferretti, Marco P.; Avilla, Leonardo S. (12 January 2016). "The Dance of Tusks: Rediscovery of Lower Incisors in the Pan-American Proboscidean Cuvieronius hyodon Revises Incisor Evolution in Elephantimorpha". PLOS ONE. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147009. Retrieved 4 May 2017.

References

Sources

* ''A Pictorial Guide to Fossils'' by Gerard Ramon Case * ''Classification of Mammals'' by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell Miocene proboscideans Gomphotheres Miocene mammals of North America Prehistoric mammals of North America Prehistoric placental genera {{paleo-proboscidean-stub