Gomphothere

Gomphothere
Temporal range: Late Oligocene - Holocene
Specimen of Gomphotherium productum at the American Museum of Natural History
Notiomastodon platensis Centro Cultural del Bicentenario de Santiago del Estero in Argentina
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Superfamily: †Gomphotherioidea
Family: †Gomphotheriidae
(Hay, 1922) A. Cabrera 1929
Genera
  • "Trilophodont gomphotheres"
    • †Gomphotherium Burmeister, 1837
    • †Blancotherium May, 2019
    • †Gnathabelodon Barbour & Sternberg, 1935
    • †Megabelodon Barbour 1914
    • †Sinomastodon Tobien et al., 1986
    • †Rhynchotherium Falconer, 1868
    • †Cuvieronius Osborn, 1923
    • †Stegomastodon Pohlig, 1912
    • †Notiomastodon Cabrera, 1929
    • †Eubelodon Barbour 1914
  • "Tetralophodont gomphotheres"
    • †Anancus
    • †Paratetralophodon
    • †Pediolophodon
    • †Tetralophodon

Gomphotheres are an extinct group of proboscideans related to modern elephants. They were widespread across Afro-Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs and dispersed into South America during the Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange. Gomphotheres are a paraphyletic group that is ancestral to Elephantidae, which contains modern elephants, as well as Stegodontidae. While most famous forms such as Gomphotherium had long lower jaws with tusks, which is the ancestral condition for the group, some later members developed shortened (brevirostrine) lower jaws with either vestigial or no lower tusks, looking very similar to modern elephants, an example of parallel evolution, which outlasted the long-jawed gomphotheres. By the end of the Early Pleistocene, gomphotheres became extinct in Afro-Eurasia, with the last two genera, Cuvieronius ranging from southern North America to western South America, and Notiomastodon having a wide range over most of South America until the end of the Pleistocene around 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct following the arrival of humans.

The name "gomphothere" comes from Ancient Greek γόμφος (gómphos), "peg, pin; wedge; joint" plus θηρίον (theríon), "beast".

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