Gomphotherium


Gomphotherium is an extinct genus of proboscids from the Neogene and early Pliocene of Eurasia, Africa, North America and possibly also Asia.

Description

G. productum is known from a 35-year-old male tall weighing. Even larger is G. steinheimense, known from a complete 37-year-old male found in Mühldorf, Germany, which is tall and weighed. It had four tusks, two on the upper jaw and two on the elongated lower jaw. The lower tusks are parallel and shaped like a shovel 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 was more elongated and low, indicating that the animal had a short trunk, rather like a tapir's. 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 surfaces. Gomphotherium spp. inhabited dry wooded regions near lakes.

Taxonomy

The following cladogram shows the placement of the genus Gomphotherium among other proboscideans, based on hyoid characteristics: