Gomphotherium, meaning "welded beast", is an extinct genus of proboscidean which evolved in the early Miocene of North America from 13.65 to 3.6 million years ago, existing for about 10 million years. The genus emigrated into Asia, Europe and Africa after a drop in sea level (probably during the Tortonian stage of the Miocene) allowed them to cross over. It survived into the Pliocene, and its remains have been found in Chile, France, Germany, Austria, Kansas, Tennessee, Pakistan and Kenya.
Description[]
Skeletal restoration of G. productum (right) and G. steinheimense (left) compared to a human
Gomphotherium stood around 3 metres (9.8 ft) high, and bore a strong resemblance to a modern elephant. However, 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 as such. 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 surface. Gomphotherium inhabited dry wooded regions near lakes. A complete skeleton of Gomphotherium has been found at Muhldorf, Germany, in 1971. With its shovel-toothed lower tusks which were used for scooping up vegetation from flooded swamps and lakebeds Gomphotherium set the pattern for the later shovel-toothed elephant Amebelodon, which had an even more pronounced digging apparatus. For a prehistoric elephant of the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, Gomphotherium was remarkably widespread, taking advantage of various land bridges to colonize Africa and Eurasia from its original stomping grounds in North America.
A complete skeleton of Gomphotherium has been found at Mühldorf, Germany, in 1971.
Gomphotherium has four tusks, two long straight tusks on the upper jaw, and two short, blunt tusks on the bottom jaw. The blunt tusks were likely used for scooping sediment in search for food. The lower jaw is elongated, likely to support the parallel shovel-like tusks. Unlike modern elephants, the long straight tusks on the upper jaw were covered in enamel. Gomphotherium is characterized by a low and elongated skull, and a shorter trunk like that of a tapirs, in contrast to a modern elephant. In comparison to other, earlier proboscids, Gomphotherium had fewer molars, with high ridges to expand the grinding range.
"G. buzdari" is known from a circular-headed and wider-than-shaft and greater trochanter, medio-dorsally directed femur and a slender, proximally-elongated tibia with a fibular fossa and a ridge on the sides and an oval cavity in the center cross-section. A depression is between the trochanter and femur head, which the former raising higher than the notch and is thicker than the adjoining notch. There is either a large fossa or a small depression at the anterior of the proximal femur, a small rise close to the laterally transverse middle, with a large thick end forming two condyles. It was named by Malkani in 2019 alongside many other new taxa in a large naming paper. It is known from the Mitra Formation and honours the Buzdar tribe. However, many of Malkani's taxa are said by himself to be nomina nuda, so "G. buzdari" is likely a nomen nudum. The largest Gomphotherium species, G. Steinheimense, which inhabited Germany and China, reached a weight of 6.7 tons (7.4 short tons).
Taxonomy[]
The genus was erected by Burmeister (1837) and was assigned to Gomphotheriidae by Burmeister (1837), Qiu et al. (1981), Carroll (1988), Lambert and Shoshani (1998), Sach and Heizmann (2001), Sanders and Miller (2002) and Lambert (2007).. Gomphotherium was considered paraphyletic by Lambert (2007). Serridentinus was named by Osborn (1923) and synonymized subjectively with Gomphotherium by Tobien (1972),[5] Madden and Storer (1985), Shoshani and Tassy (1996), Lambert (1996), Lambert and Shoshani (1998)[8] and Christiansen (2007). The following cladogram shows the placement of the genus Gomphotherium among other proboscideans, based on hyoid characteristics:
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Species[]
- Gomphotherium anguirvalis
- Gomphotherium angustidens
- Gomphotherium annectens
- Gomphotherium buzdari
- Gomphotherium brewsterensis
- Gomphotherium calvertense
- Gomphotherium nebrascensis
- Gomphotherium obscurum
- Gomphotherium productum
- Gomphotherium rugosidens
- Gomphotherium sendaicum
- Gomphotherium simplicidens
- Gomphotherium williston
Notable Specimens[]
- MSM-MSID-1 and MSM-MSID-2: The holotype fibula and tibia of "G. buzdari".
- DMNH 1261: G. productum femur, pelvis and humerus.
Paleoecology[]
Gomphotherium likely lived in swamps, using their jaws to uproot or scrape aquatic vegetation out of the water and into their jaws. Some Gomphotherium lived in dry wooded regions near lakes.
Appearance in other media[]
Jurassic Park[]
- It appears in illustrations in the Smithsonian Jurassic World Dominion Prehistoric Projector Kit along with Horned gophers.
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