''Sinomastodon'' ("Chinese mastodont") is an extinct gomphothere genus (of order Proboscidea), from the Late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

to the Early

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological 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 finally confirmed in ...

deposits of Asia ( China, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Kashmir, and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

). It is not to be confused with the genus ''

Sinomammut ''Sinomammut'' (meaning "Chinese mastodon") is a proboscidean found in the Miocene of China. Only one species, ''S. tobieni'', is known, named in 2016. Discovery and naming It was known from GIOTC 0984-9-178, a single, fragmentary, mandible ...

'' from a different proboscidean family, whose members are commonly called "mastodons". The animal was very similar to modern

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

s with sizes ranging from 3.6 to 5.3 m. Several species are known from China, the best-known being ''S. hanjiangensis'' from the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene of the Shanxi province. It is known from an incomplete skeleton of an adult (measuring 5.3 m) including maxilla, mandibles, teeth, tusks and other materials has been discovered. The Japanese species ''S. sendaicus'' described in 1924 from dentary materials from Pliocene deposits has been ascribed to the genus, as well as the species ''S. bumiajuensis'' (formerly ''

Tetralophodon ''Tetralophodon'' ("four-ridged tooth") is an extinct proboscidean genus belonging to the superfamily Elephantoidea. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetralophodon'' (meaning "four-ridged tooth") was named in the mid-19th century with the discovery of the ...

'') from the late Pliocene of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

. One individual of ''S. hanjiangensis'' was a 30-year-old tall and weighed .

Taxonomy

According to

Diet

The diet of ''Sinomastodon'' was probably that of a browser, similar to another proboscidean which it shared its environment with, ''

Stegodon ''Stegodon'' ("roofed tooth" from the Ancient Greek words , , 'to cover', + , , 'tooth' because of the distinctive ridges on the animal's molars) is an extinct genus of proboscidean, related to elephants. It was originally assigned to the fami ...

''.

References

* Tobien, H., Chen, G.F., and Li, Y.Q., 1986; Mastodons (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the LateNeogene and Early Pleistocene of the People's Republic of China. Part I, HistoricalAccount. Mainzer geowiss, mitt., 15, pp. 119–181.

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q373271 Gomphotheres Miocene proboscideans Pliocene proboscideans Pleistocene proboscideans Cenozoic mammals of Asia Prehistoric placental genera Fossil taxa described in 1986