Palaeomastodon ("ancient mastodon") is an extinct genus within the elephant order Proboscidea. Its fossils have been extracted from Oligocene strata conventionally dated to 33.9-23.03 million years old. Usually considered an ancestor or near-ancestor of elephants or mastodons as a member of Elephantiformes[1] it lived in marshes and fluvial-deltaic environments of what is now Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, and Saudi Arabia.
Artistic representation by Heinrich Harder
Life reconstruction of Palaeomastodon beadnelli
Artistic representation
Few postcranial remains are known, but based on the reported 875 mm length of one P. beadnelli femur, a recent study estimated an adult shoulder height of about 2.2 metres (7.2 ft) with a mass over 2.5 tonnes (2.8 short tons).[2]
Palaeomastodonts possessed both maxillary and mandibular tusks. The mandibular tusks projected anteriorly and were generally flat and scoop-like. They were probably used to scrape the bark off trees and uproot various plants. By contrast, the sharp maxillary tusks primarily functioned as defensive weapons.[3] Unlike later proboscideans belonging to Elephantimorpha, the teeth erupted vertically rather than horizontally, as shared with other "paleomastodonts" like Phiomia.[4]
The form, size, and capabilities of palaeomastodont nasal structures have long been debated. Though often depicted with a relatively small, prehensile proboscis, Osborn 1909 argued that wear patterns on the lower tusks better favored the presence of a large, retractile upper lip.
^The genus Palaeomastodon
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^Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014.
^Osborn, H. F. (1909). "The Feeding Habits of Mœritherium and Palæomastodon". Nature. 81 (2074): 139–140. Bibcode:1909Natur..81..139O. doi:10.1038/081139a0.
^Sanders, William J. (2018-02-17). "Horizontal tooth displacement and premolar occurrence in elephants and other elephantiform proboscideans". Historical Biology. 30 (1–2): 137–156. Bibcode:2018HBio...30..137S. doi:10.1080/08912963.2017.1297436. ISSN 0891-2963.
Palaeomastodon ("ancient mastodon") is an extinct genus within the elephant order Proboscidea. Its fossils have been extracted from Oligocene strata conventionally...
PMC 2311368. PMID 18413605. Matsumoto, H. 1922. Revision of Palæomastodon and Mœritherium. Palæomastodon intermedius, and Phiomia osborni, new species. American...
elephantiforms like Phiomia and Palaeomastodon are known from the Early Oligocene onwards. Phiomia and Palaeomastodon are often collectively referred...
Barytherium were probably amphibious. Later on, genera such as Phiomia and Palaeomastodon arose; the latter likely inhabited more forested areas. Proboscidean...
Fayoum 1898 Charles Andrews, 1901, they unearthed a wealth of fossils Palaeomastodon, the oldest known elephant Eberhard Frass, Fayoum 1905 Walter Granger...
Elephantimorpha is diphyletic because Phiomia is ancestral to gomphotheres while Palaeomastodon is ancestral to mammutids. The earliest undisputed mammutid genus Losodokodon...
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