Cuvieronius

''Cuvieronius'' is an extinct New World genus of gomphothere which ranged from southern North America to western South America during the Pleistocene epoch. Reaching a shoulder height of and a body mass of , it was on average shorter but comparable in body mass to an Asian elephant. ''Cuvieronius'' inhabited subtropical and tropical latitudes in environments ranging from grasslands to tropical rainforest. Among the last gomphotheres along with the South American ''Notiomastodon'', it became extinct as part of the end Pleistocene-extinction event, approximately 12,000 years ago, along with most other large mammals in the Americas. The extinctions followed the arrival of humans to the Americas, and evidence has been found for human hunting of ''Cuvieronius,'' which may have been a factor in its extinction.

Taxonomy

The species now known as ''Cuvieronius hyodon'' was among the first fossil animals from the New World to be studied. The first remains of this species were recovered from Ecuador by Alexander von Humboldt, at a location the local population referred to as the "Field of Giants".Mayor, A. (2005). Fossil legends of the first Americans. Princeton University Press. Humboldt recognized that, rather than being bones of giant humans as had been thought by the local population and previous Spanish colonists, they were similar to the giant elephants (''Mastodon'') being described from Ohio. Humboldt sent teeth that he had collected from Mexico, Ecuador, and Chile to French anatomist Georges Cuvier, who classified the teeth into two species, which he referred to as the "mastodonte des cordilières" and the "mastodonte humboldtien", in an 1806 paper.Lucas, S.G. (2009)
Case 3479 ''Cuvieronius'' Osborn, 1923 (Mammalia, Proboscidea): Proposed conservation.
Bull. Zool. Nomen, 66, 1-6. It was not until 1824 that Cuvier formally named the species. He referred both to the genus ''Mastodon'', calling them ''M. andium'' and ''M. humboldtii''.

Unknown to Cuvier, Fischer had, in 1814, already named the two species based on Cuvier's original description, in the new genus ''Mastotherium'' as ''M. hyodon'' and ''M. humboldtii''. The idea of two distinct species continued to be accepted into the 20th century, usually using Cuvier's names, though Fischer's names were older. In 1923, Henry Fairfield Osborn recognized that these species were distinct from ''Mastodon'', and assigned each to its own new genus, ''Cuvieronius humboldtii'' and ''Cordillerion andium,'' with the name ''Cuvieronius'' in honour of Cuvier''.'' However, by the 1930s, general agreement had shifted to regard both forms as representing a single, geographically widespread species, with ''Cuvieronius humboldtii'' considered to be the correct name. During the 1950s, the nomenclature of this species became increasingly tangled, as various scientists regarded the type species of the genus ''Cuvieronius'' to be Fischer's first published name ''Mastotherium hyodon'', rather than the originally designated ''Mastodon humboldtii''. This situation went unaddressed until 2009, when Spencer Lucas petitioned the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to officially change the type species of ''Cuvieronius'' to ''M. hyodon'' as had been followed for over 50 years by that time, rather than abandoning the well-known ''Cuvieronius'' as a synonym, as well as to designate the specimen MNHN TAR 1270, a skull and lower jaw from Tarija, Bolivia, as the neotype specimen of the genus/species. In 2011, Opinion 2276 of the ICZN ruled to conserve the names.

The species level taxonomy of ''Cuvieronius'' is confused. Historically, several species were recognised, typically ''C. tropicus'' and ''C. hyodon'' for North and South American remains, respectively, but recent scholarship suggests that there is only a single valid pan-American species, ''C. hyodon.''

Description

Alive, specimens typically stood about tall at the shoulder, and weighed about , making it around the same shoulder height as an African forest elephant, but heavier and more comparable in weight to an Asian elephant. The skull was relatively long and low-vaulted. The upper tusks were straight to slightly curved, and had a spiral shaped-enamel band,Spencer LG 2022
The last North American gomphotheres
N Mex Mus Nat Hist Sci. 88:45–58. and reached considerable size, with tusks in the region of in length and weights in excess of . The lower tusks present in more primitive gomphotheres were vestigial in ''Cuvieronius,'' being only present in young juveniles, and the lower jaw shortened (brevirostrine). The third molars typically had 4 to 4.5 lophs/lophids, with some specimens having 5 lophs/lophids, with relatively simple crowns. The limb bones are very robust, even compared to other gomphotheres, likely corresponding with its relatively low body mass.

Ecology

''Cuvieronius'' inhabited tropical and subtropical latitudes, in environments spanning from savanna and grassland in northern Mexico, the tropical rainforests of Central America, and the arid cool-temperate Andes mountains. It spanned altitudes from below current sea level on the continental shelf (but which during the Pleistocene was periodically exposed as dry land) near the Pearl Islands of what is now Panama, to at least above current sea level in the Bolivian Andes. ''Cuvieronius'' is suggested to have been a generalist mixed feeder that consumed a wide range of plant resources, including grasses and browse (the leaves and twigs of plants like trees and shrubs). Costa Rican ''C. hyodon'' were specialised forest inhabitants that primarily fed on C₃ plants. In 1982, Daniel H. Janzen and Paul Schultz Martin suggested that the diet of ''Cuvieronius'' probably included fruit, and that it was likely an important seed disperser of a variety of Neotropical plants with large fleshy fruits similar to those consumed by large animals in Africa, but which lack effective living native seed dispersers, which they described as " Pleistocene anachronisms". ''Cuvierionius'' may have lived in herds, similar to modern elephants.

Evolution

''Cuvieronius'' initially evolved in North America. It is considered closely related to, if not derived from, '' Rhynchotherium,'' a North American gomphothere genus known from the Late Miocene and Pliocene.Lucas, S.P., 2008a
Cuvieronius (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the Neogene of Florida
In: Lucas, S.P., Morgan, G.S., Spielmann, J.A., Prothero, D.R. (Eds.), Neogene Mammals, vol. 44. N. M. Mus. Nat. Hist. Sci. Bull., pp. 31e38 Some authors have suggested that the genus first appeared around 2 million years ago, with its earliest fossils found in Florida, while other authors suggest the earliest unambiguous appearance of ''Cuvieronius'' in the fossil record in North America dates to somewhat later, around 1.4 million years ago (Ma). ''Cuvieronius'' became rarer in its northern range in North America over the course of the Irvingtonian after the arrival of mammoths in North America around 1.3 Ma, presumably due to competitive exclusion by Columbian mammoths as well as mastodons, but persisted in the southern USA, Mexico and Central America until the very end of the Pleistocene. During the Great American Interchange, ''Cuvieronius'' and a relative, ''Notiomastodon'', dispersed into South America. ''Cuvieronius'' apparently reached South America considerably later than ''Notiomastodon'', with the oldest possible date being 760,000 ±30,000 years ago and the oldest confirmed date being 304,000 ±54,000 years ago, and had a much more restricted range, confined mostly to the Andes.

Distribution and habitat

In North America, ''Cuvieronius'' is known from the southern United States, including Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas as well as Mexico. It was also widespread across Central America. By the end of the Pleistocene, the northern limit of the range of ''Cuvieronius'' stretched across southern North America, with Rancholabrean age finds being recovered from Florida, Mississippi, Texas and Sonora.

Many gomphothere remains in South America historically referred to ''Cuvieronius'' actually refer to ''Notiomastodon'', with many previous studies simply labeling fossils one or the other depending on location. Considering only localities definitely identified as ''Cuvieronius'', the range of ''Cuvieronius'' in South America is now considered to span the high Andes from Ecuador in the north, to Bolivia in the south, with the localities in the southern Andes in Chile and Argentina now thought to belong to ''Notiomastodon.'' ''Cuvieronius'' was extirpated from South America by the end of the Late Pleistocene, with its youngest dates on the continent being around 44,000 years ago, before the arrival of people.

Extinction

''Curiveronius'' became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 12,000 years ago as part of the end-Pleistocene extinction event, simultaneously alongside most other large animals across the Americas. The extinction of ''Cuvieronius'' and other megafauna postdates human arrival in the Americas, which occurred several thousand years prior. At the El Fin del Mundo kill site in Sonora, Mexico, remains of an individual of ''Cuvierionius'' and another indeterminate gomphothere were found associated with Clovis spear points, suggesting that hunting may have played a role in its extinction. The site was initially suggested to date to 13,390 years Before Present, however this date was later contested, and the site may be younger than this.

References

Bibliography

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External links

American Museum of Natural History
Includes images

{{Taxonbar, from=Q139070

Gomphotheres
Prehistoric placental genera
Pleistocene proboscideans
Zanclean first appearances
Holocene extinctions
Pliocene proboscideans
Pliocene mammals of North America
Pleistocene mammals of North America
Rancholabrean
Irvingtonian
Blancan
Neogene Mexico
Neogene United States
Pleistocene Costa Rica
Pleistocene El Salvador
Pleistocene Guatemala
Pleistocene Mexico
Pleistocene Nicaragua
Pleistocene Panama
Pleistocene United States
Fossils of Costa Rica
Fossils of El Salvador
Fossils of Guatemala
Fossils of Mexico
Fossils of Nicaragua
Fossils of Panama
Fossils of the United States
Pliocene mammals of South America
Pleistocene mammals of South America
Lujanian
Ensenadan
Uquian
Chapadmalalan
Montehermosan
Neogene Chile
Pleistocene Bolivia
Pleistocene Chile
Pleistocene Colombia
Pleistocene Ecuador
Pleistocene Venezuela
Fossils of Bolivia
Fossils of Chile
Fossils of Colombia
Fossils of Ecuador
Fossils of Venezuela
Fossil taxa described in 1923
Taxa named by Henry Fairfield Osborn