Gomphotherium

Taxobox
name = "Gomphotherium"


fossil_range = Early Miocene to Early Pliocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Proboscidea
familia = Gomphotheriidae
genus = "Gomphotherium"
genus_authority = Burmeister, 1837
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "G. anguirvalis"
* "G. angustidens"
* "G. annectens"
* "G. brewsterensis"
* "G. calvertense"
* "G. connexus"
* "G. nebrascensis"
* "G. obscurum"
* "G. osborni"
* "G. productum"
* "G. rugosidens"
* "G. simplicidens"
* "G. willistoni"
* "G. wimani"

"Gomphotherium" (pronunciation: gom-fo-THEER-ee-um) ("Welded Beast") is an extinct genus of proboscid which evolved in the Early Miocene of North America and invaded Asia, Europe and Africa after a drop in sea level (probably during the Tortonian epoch). [Citation
last = Alberdi
first = M. T.
authorlink =
first2 = J. L.
last2 = Prado
first3 = E.
last3 = Ortiz-Jaureguizar
first4 = P.
last4 = Posadas
first5 = M.
last5 = Donato
editor-last = Díaz-Martínez
editor-first = E.
editor2-last = Rábano
editor2-first = I.
contribution = Historical Biogeography of Trilophoont Gomphotheres (Mammalia, Proboscidea) Recontructed Applying Dispersion-Vicariance Analysis
contribution-url = http://www.igme.es/4empsla/libro/02.pdf
title = Proceedings of the 4th European Meeting on the Palaeontology and Stratigraphy of Latin America, Zaragoza Spain 17-19 September 2007
year = 2007
pages = 9-14
place = Madrid
publisher = Instituto Geológico y Minero de España
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 978-84-7840-707-1
accessdate = 2008-07-28] It survived into the Pliocene, and its remains have been found in France, Germany, Austria, Kansas, Pakistan and Kenya. The 3 m (10 ft) tall creature, also known as "Trilophodon" or "Tetrabelodon", resembled a modern elephant but had four tusks instead of two: two on the upper jaw and two on the elongated lower jaw. The lower ones are parallel and shaped like a shovel and were probably used as such. Unlike modern elephants, the upper tusks were covered by a layer of enamel. Compared to elephants, the skull was more elongated and low. These animals probably lived in swamps or near lakes, using their tusks to dig or scrape up aquatic vegetation. In comparison to earlier proboscids, "Gomphotherium" had far fewer molars; the remaining ones had high ridges to expand their grinding surface.

A complete skeleton of "Gomphotherium" has been found at Mühldorf, Germany, in 1971.

References

* http://www.elephant.se/gomphotherium.php