|
Deinotheriidae
Deinotheriidae ("terrible beasts") is a family of prehistoric elephant-like proboscideans that lived during the Cenozoic era, first appearing in Africa during the Oligocene then spreading across Europe and the lower latitudes of Asia during the Miocene epoch. Their most distinctive features were their lack of upper tusks and downward-curving tusks on the lower jaw. Deinotheres were not very diverse; the only three known genera are '' Chilgatherium'', ''Prodeinotherium'', and ''Deinotherium''. These form an evolutionary succession, with each new genus replacing the preceding one. Deinotheres were relatively conservative and showed little morphological change over their evolution, aside from a progressive increase in body size. Some species of ''Deinotherium'' are among the largest known land mammals ever, considerably exceeding modern elephants in size. The last members of ''Deinotherium'' persisted until the end of the Early Pleistocene in Africa, around 1 million years ago. De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proboscidea
Proboscidea (; , ) is a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. Three living species of elephant are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. Extinct members of Proboscidea include the deinotheres, mastodons, gomphotheres and stegodonts. The family Elephantidae also contains several extinct groups, including mammoths and '' Palaeoloxodon''. Proboscideans include some of the largest known land mammals, with the elephant '' Palaeoloxodon namadicus'' and mastodon ''"Mammut" borsoni'' suggested to have body masses surpassing , rivalling or exceeding paraceratheres (the otherwise largest known land mammals) in size. The largest extant proboscidean is the African bush elephant, with a world record of size of at the shoulder and . In addition to thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deinotherium
''Deinotherium'' (from Ancient Greek , ''()'', meaning "terrible", and ''()'', meaning "beast"), is an extinct genus of large, elephant-like proboscideans that lived from the middle-Miocene until the end of the Early Pleistocene. Although its appearance is reminiscent of modern elephants, ''Deinotherium'' possessed a notably more flexible neck, and proportionally more slender limbs, as well as tusks which grew down and curved back from the lower jaw (mandible), and lacked tusks growing from the upper jaw. Several species of ''Deinotherium'' grew larger than modern elephants, not uncommonly reaching shoulder heights of and body masses of over , making them among the largest land mammals ever. ''Deinotherium'' was a widespread genus, during the Miocene they ranged across East Africa, and Eurasia from Western Europe to the Indian subcontinent. They were Browsing (herbivory), browsing animals, with a diet largely consisting of leaves. The genus most likely went extinct due to environ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prodeinotherium
''Prodeinotherium'' is an extinct representative of the family Deinotheriidae that lived in Africa, Europe, and Asia in the early and middle Miocene. ''Prodeinotherium'', meaning "before terrible beast", was first named in 1930, but soon after, the only species in it, ''P. hungaricum'', was reassigned to ''Deinotherium''. During the 1970s, however, the two genera were once again separated, with ''Prodeinotherium'' diagnosed to include ''Deinotherium bavaricum'' (=''P. hungaricum''), ''Deinotherium hobleyi'', and ''Deinotherium pentapotamiae'', which were separated based on geographic location. The three species are from Europe, Africa, and Asia, respectively. However, because of usage of few characters to separate them, only one species, ''P. bavaricum'', or many more species, including ''P. cuvieri'', ''P. orlovii'', and ''P. sinense'' may be possible. ''Prodeinotherium'' is one of three genera of the Deinotheriidae, the others being ''Chilgatherium'' from Africa, and ''Deinother ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arcanotherium
''Arcanotherium'' is an extinct genus of early proboscidean belonging to the family Numidotheriidae that lived in North Africa during the late Eocene/early Oligocene interval. Taxonomy ''Arcanotherium'' was originally described by Court (1995) as a new species of '' Numidotherium'', ''N. savagei'', based on a mandible found in the late 1960s in late Eocene deposits at Dor el Talha, Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L .... However, after the ''Barytherium'' material from Libya became accessible to paleontologists, undescribed material from the collection prompted Delmer (2009) to erect ''Arcanotherium'' for ''N. savagei''. Phylogeny Below is a phylogenetic tree of early Proboscidea, based on the work of Hautier ''et al''. (2021). References Numidotheriid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephant
Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus''). They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea; extinct relatives include mammoths and mastodons. Distinctive features of elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, pillar-like legs, and tough but sensitive grey skin. The trunk is prehensile, bringing food and water to the mouth and grasping objects. Tusks, which are derived from the incisor teeth, serve both as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. The large ear flaps assist in maintaining a constant body temperature as well as in communication. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears and convex or level backs. Elephants are scatter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephantiformes
Elephantiformes is a suborder within the order Proboscidea. Members of this group are primitively characterised by the possession of upper tusks, an elongated mandibular symphysis (the frontmost part of the lower jaw) and lower tusks, and the retraction of the facial region of the skull indicative of the development of a trunk. The earliest known member of the group, '' Dagbatitherium'' is known from the Eocene (Lutetian) of Togo, which is only known from isolated teeth, while other primitive elephantiforms like '' Phiomia'' and '' Palaeomastodon'' are known from the Early Oligocene onwards. ''Phiomia'' and ''Palaeomastodon'' are often collectively referred to as "palaeomastodonts" and assigned to the family Palaeomastodontidae. Most diversity of the group is placed in the subclade Elephantimorpha, which includes mastodons (family Mammutidae), as well as modern elephants and gomphotheres (Elephantida), which are distinguished from more primitive elephantiforms by the development ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eritherium
''Eritherium'' is an extinct genus of early Proboscidea found in the Ouled Abdoun basin (early Thanetian age), Morocco. It lived about 60 million years ago. It was first named by Emmanuel Gheerbrant in 2009 and the type species is ''Eritherium azzouzorum''. ''Eritherium ''is the oldest, smallest and most primitive known elephant relative. Description The holotype (specimen number MNHN PM69) is now in the Musée d'histoire naturelle - Guimet in Lyon and includes an upper jaw (with approaches of the zygomatic bone and two maxillary branches, each of the two posterior premolars (P3 and 4) and three molars (M1-3)). The piece is about 6 inches long, 5 inches wide and just over 3 inches high. In addition, the fossils include 15 more objects including the skull bones (frontal and nasal bones), lower jaw fragments and teeth and the upper and lower jaw. It was about 20 cm tall at the shoulder and weighed about 5–6 kg. Generally, ''Eritherium ''shared similarities in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phosphatherium
''Phosphatherium escuilliei'', named by Gheerbrant, Sudre and Cappetta in 1996, is a basal proboscidean that lived in Africa during the early Eocene, about 56-55 Ma. It is one of the earliest known proboscideans, together with ''Eritherium azzouzorum'' from the Selandian (about 60 Ma). It was found in phosphorites beds from the base of the Ypresian stage of the Ouled Abdoun Basin, which is best known for its exceptionally rich marine vertebrate fauna. Description The species ''P. escuilliei'' is known from relatively well-preserved fossils, including several sub-complete skulls that have enabled the reconstruction of the animal's head. The skull of ''Phosphatherium'' is very primitive compared to advanced proboscideans (Elephantiformes), for example the nasal openings are anterior, indicating that it lacked a trunk. Other plesiomorphic traits are the elongated face, the narrow rostrum, the strong sagittal and nuchal crests, the presence of an alisphenoid canal, the auditory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daouitherium
''Daouitherium'' ("Sidi Daoui beast" from the name of the site where it was discovered) is an extinct genus of early proboscideans (a group including modern elephants and their extinct relatives) that lived during the early Eocene (Ypresian stage) some 55 million years ago in North Africa. Remains of this animal, fragments of jaws and teeth, have been found in the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco. It is estimated to have weighed between , making it one of the earliest large mammals known from Africa and one of the oldest known proboscideans. Another estimate gives a weight of . Description ''Daouitherium'' is known only from lower jaws and associated cheek teeth. It had lophodont and bilophodont molars, i.e. molars with large ridges. The second and third premolars had a notably large cusp called the hypoconid. Gheerbrant et al. described the teeth as similar to those of other early proboscideans '' Phosphatherium'', '' Numidotherium'', and '' Barytherium''. Taxonomy A cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Numidotherium , has been reassigned to its own genus, '' Arcanotherium''.''Numidotherium'' (meaning "Numidia beast" in Ancient Greek) is an extinct genus of early proboscideans, discovered in 1984, that lived during the middle Eocene of North Africa some 46 million years ago. It was about tall at the shoulder and weighed about . The type species, ''N. koholense'', is known from an almost complete skeleton from the site of El Kohol, southern Algeria, dating from the early/middle Eocene period. The animal had the size and the appearance of a modern tapir. In appearance, it was more slender and more plantigrade than an elephant, its closest modern relative.Libya [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chilgatherium
''Chilgatherium'' ('Chilga beast' after the locality in which it was found) is the earliest and most primitive representative of the family Deinotheriidae. It is known from late Oligocene (27- to 28-million-year-old) fossil teeth found in the Ethiopian district of Chilga. So far, only a few molar teeth have been found, but these are distinct enough that this animal can be identified with confidence. The teeth differ from those of ''Prodeinotherium'', ''Deinotherium'', and the various barytheres in various details, enough to show that this is a distinct type of animal, and has been placed in its own subfamily. Compared to later deinotheres, ''Chilgatherium'' was quite small, about tall at the shoulder and weighed about . It is not known if it shared the distinctive downward-curving tusks on the lower jaw that the later deinotheres had. ''Chilgatherium'' disappeared prior to the Early Miocene, when it was replaced by ''Prodeinotherium''. References Further reading * Gug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
