Gomphotheries

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Gomphotheries
Gomphotherium angustidens

Gomphotherium angustidens

Temporal occurrence
Upper Oligocene to Pleistocene
Main distribution in the Miocene
28.4 million years to 11,000 years
Locations
Systematics
Paenungulata
Tethytheria
Russell animals (Proboscidea)
Elephantimorpha
Elephantida
Gomphotheries
Scientific name
Gomphotheriidae
Hay , 1922

The Gomphotheria (Gomphotheriidae) represent an extinct family of proboscis. They lived in the Tertiary and Quaternary and form one of the four great extinct lines of the early proboscis alongside the Deinotheriidae , the mammutids (Mammutidae) and the stegodonts (Stegodontidae). Early gomphotheries had four tusks and bumpy molars . Later forms had only two tusks in the upper jaw and some molars with lamellar tooth structures. The gomphotheria are probably paraphyletic and represent the parent group of the more modern proboscis such as stegodonts and elephants (Elephantidae), so include them in their broadest definition.

Development history

Perhaps one of the earliest forms was Phiomia . This genus was still limited to the area of ​​origin of the family and only occurred in Africa, but with the genus Gomphotherium , the Gomphotheria were the first to reach Eurasia in the Miocene . From there they spread to North America, which was temporarily connected to Asia in the Tertiary. In this early genus, the four tusks were almost straight. The lower ones were mostly close to each other in the elongated, narrow lower jaw and could probably be used like a shovel. The upper tusks were covered by a band of enamel , which presumably covered the tusks of all earlier elephants, but has disappeared in today's elephants. They looked like tusks and were probably used for digging.

Later forms such as anancus and tetralophodon (originally also called tetralophodonte gomphotheria) only had tusks in the upper jaw and, with their longer legs and shortened skull, were much more reminiscent of elephants than the early gomphotheria, they are therefore classified today as representatives of the elephantoidea (the common group of stegodons, elephants and their immediate relatives). The genera Notiomastodon and Cuvieronius from the Pleistocene of South America survived until the first humans appeared on the continent and only died out a few thousand years ago. Most gomphotheries had teat-shaped molars, while elephants are characterized by molars with a lamellar chewing surface.

Nevertheless, the position of the gomphotheria in the proboscis system is uncertain. They encompass a large group of proboscis that was represented almost worldwide for a long period of time. They differ from the other early proboscis by their elongated skull shape and the mostly straight tusks. This is one of the reasons why they were combined to form the Gomphotheriidae group.

A conspicuous group are the Amebelodontinae ( spade elephants), which are sometimes viewed as an independent family. Their two lower tusks have grown together to form a shovel that the animals probably used to dig for aquatic plants in the muddy bottom of bodies of water. Well-known representatives of the paddle elephants are Platybelodon from Africa and Asia and the American Amebelodon . The original form of the paddle elephant was found in Europe: Archaeobelodon , which lived 15 million years ago. In 2004, paleontologists from Augsburg managed to excavate an almost complete skeleton. The world's only skeletal assembly of an Archaeobelodon filholi can be seen in Paris ; it is in the " Muséum national d'histoire naturelle " in the Jardin des Plantes . The local " Galerie d'Anatomie comparée et de Paléontologie " shows a museum collection of recent and fossil skeletons, which was opened in 1898.

Genera

The gomphotheries are structured as follows:

  • Family: Gomphotheriidae Hay , 1922

literature

  • MT Alberdi, JL Prado, E. Ortiz-Jaureguizar, P. Posadas, M. Donato: Historical Biogeography of Trilophodont Gomphotheres (Mammalia, Proboscidea) Reconstructed Applying Dispersion-Vicariance Analysis. In: E. Díaz-Martínez, I. Rábano (Ed.): Proceedings of the 4th European Meeting on the Palaeontology and Stratigraphy of Latin America. Zaragoza, Spain, 17-19 September 2007. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid 2007, ISBN 978-84-7840-707-1 , pp. 9-14 ( Cuadernos del Museo Geominero 8), (PDF; 65 kB) .
  • Henry Fairfield Osborn : Proboscidea. A monograph of the discovery, evolution, migration and extinction of the mastodonts and elephants of the world. The American Museum Press, New York NY 1936.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pascal Tassy: The earliest gomphotheres. In: Jeheskel Shoshani and Pascal Tassy (eds.): The Proboscidea. Evolution and palaeoecology of the Elephants and their relatives. Oxford, New York, Tokyo, 1996, pp. 89-91
  2. ↑ Dimila Mothé, Leonardo S. Avilla, Mário Cozzuol and Gisele R. Winck: Taxonomic revision of the Quaternary gomphotheres (Mammalia: Proboscidea: Gomphotheriidae) from the South American lowlands. Quaternary International 276, 2012, pp. 2-7
  3. ↑ Jeheskel Shoshani and Pascal Tassy: Advances in proboscidean taxonomy & classification, anatomy & physiology, and ecology & behavior Quaternary International 126–128, 2005, pp. 5–20
  4. ↑ María Teresa Alberdi, José Luis Prado, Edgardo Ortiz-Jaureguizar, Paula Posadas and Mariano Donato: Paleobiogeography of trilophodont gomphotheres (Mammalia: Proboscidea). A reconstruction applying DIVA (Dispersion-Vicariance Analysis). Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas 28 (2), 2011, pp. 235–244
  5. ^ Jan van der Made: The evolution of the elephants and their relatives in the context of a changing climate and geography. In: Harald Meller (ed.): Elefantenreich. A fossil world in Europe. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 340-360
  6. ^ William J. Sanders, Emmanuel Gheerbrant, John M. Harris, Haruo Saegusa and Cyrille Delmer: Proboscidea. In: Lars Werdelin and William Joseph Sanders (eds.): Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press, Berkeley, London, New York, 2010, pp. 161-251
  7. ↑ Wang Yuan, Jin ChangZhu, Deng ChengLong, Wei GuangBiao and Yan YaLing: The first Sinomastodon (Gomphotheriidae, Proboscidea) skull from the Quaternary in China. Chinese Science Bulletin 57 (36), 2012, pp. 4726-4734
  8. ↑ George E. Konidaris, Ocrates J. Roussiakis, George E. Theodorou and George D. Koufus: The Eurasian Occurrence of the Shovel-Tusker Konobelodon (Mammalia, Proboscidea) as Illuminated by its Presence in the Late Miocene of Pikermi (Greece). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34 (6), 2014, pp. 1437-1453
  9. ↑ W. David Lambert: Eurybelodon shoshanii to unusual new shovel-tusked gomphothere (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the late Miocene of Oregon. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 2016, p. E1091352 doi: 10.1080 / 02724634.2016.1091352
  10. ^ W. David Lambert: New tetralophodont gomphothere material from American Tetralophodon. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (3), 2007, pp. 676-682
  11. ↑ Shi-Qi Wang, Tao Deng, Jie Ye, Wen He and Shan-Qin Chen: Morphological and ecological diversity of Amebelodontidae (Proboscidea, Mammalia) revealed by a Miocene fossil accumulation of an upper-tuskless proboscidean. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 2016 doi: 10.1080 / 14772019.2016.1208687
  12. ↑ Steven R. May: The Lapara Creek Fauna: Early Clarendonian of south Texas, USA. Palaeontologia Electronica 22 (1), 2019, p. 22.1.15A (p. 1–129, here 42–62) doi: 10.26879 / 929

Web links

Commons : Gomphotheria (Gomphotheriidae)  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files