Name:
Gnathabelodon
(Jaw tusk).
Phonetic: Nayf-a-bel-o-don.
Named By: Barbour and Sternberg - 1935.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia,
Proboscidea, Gomphotheriidae.
Species: G. thorpei (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Unavailable.
Known locations: USA - Kansas & Texas.
Time period: Miocene.
Fossil representation: Remains of at least two
individuals.
As a gompothere elephant, Gnathabelodon differed from today’s elephants by having enlarged incisor teeth in the lower jaw that formed a ‘shovel’ protruding from the tip of the lower jaw. In the past Gnathabelodon has been considered to be the same elephant as the closely related Gompotherium (the type genus of the Gomphotheriidae), though today Gnathabelodon is still usually treated as a distinct genus.
Further reading
- The Dance of Tusks:
Rediscovery of Lower Incisors in the Pan-American Proboscidean
Cuvieronius hyodon Revises Incisor Evolution in Elephantimorpha. - PLOS
ONE. - Dimila Moth�, Marco P. Ferretti, Leonardo S. Avilla & S.
Leonardo - 2016.
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