Stegodontidae is an extinct family of
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 l ...
ns from Africa and Asia (with a single occurrence in Europe) from the Early
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
(at least 17.3 million years ago
) to the
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...
. It contains two genera, the earlier ''
Stegolophodon
''Stegolophodon'' is an extinct genus of Stegodontidae, stegodontid proboscideans. It lived during the Miocene epoch in Asia. The earliest fossils are known from the Early Miocene, with one of the oldest fossils being from Japan, estimated to be ...
'', known from the Miocene of Asia and the later ''
Stegodon,'' from the Late Miocene to Late Pleistocene of Africa and Asia (with a single occurrence in Greece) which is thought to have evolved from the former. The group is noted for their plate-like
lophs on their teeth, which are similar to elephants and different from those of other extinct proboscideans like
gomphotheres
Gomphotheres are an extinct group of proboscideans related to modern Elephant, elephants. First appearing in Africa during the Oligocene, they dispersed into Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and arrived in South America during the Ple ...
and
mammutids, with both groups having a proal jaw movement utilizing forward strokes of the lower jaw. These similarities with modern elephants were probably
convergently evolved.
Like elephantids, stegodontids are thought to have evolved from gomphothere ancestors.
Taxonomy
Stegodontidae was named by Osborn (1918). It was assigned to
Mammutoidea by Carroll (1988); to
Elephantoidea by Lambert and Shoshani (1998); and to
Elephantoidea by Shoshani et al. (2006).
[ J. Shoshani, R. C. Walter, M. Abraha, S. Berhe, P. Tassy, W. J. Sanders, G. H. Marchant, Y. Libsekal, T. Ghirmai and D. Zinner. 2006. A proboscidean from the late Oligocene of Eritrea, a "missing link" between early Elephantiformes and Elephantimorpha, and biogeographic implications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103(46)] While ''Stegodon'' was historically considered an elephant, this is now largely rejected, with the similarities considered to be convergent.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2196033
Miocene proboscideans
Pleistocene proboscideans
Pliocene proboscideans
Cenozoic mammals of Africa
Cenozoic mammals of Asia
Pleistocene extinctions
Miocene first appearances
Prehistoric mammal families