Amebelodon
("Shovel Tusker" mammoth), Tooth
Mammalia
(Mammals), Order Proboscidea, Suborder Elephantoidea, Family Gomphothere
or Gomphotheriidae (closely related to Platybelodon), Genus: Gomphotherium
Miocene
(~ 15 mya)
Gang-Xu,
China
Amebelodon [äm´ bel dän]: commonly known as a "Shovel Tusker" mammoth was a huge herbivore (plant-eating mammal) that lived in herds during the Early middle Miocene (about 15 million years ago). This elephant-like browser (eats tall foilage) had a shovel-shaped, scoop-like lower jaw mandible). This huge mouth had sharp teeth at the front edge; these teeth were probably used for cutting leaves to eat. Flat cheek teeth ground up the leaves. It also had 2 small, forward and downward-pointing tusks toward the front of the upper jaw, probable used for defense against predators. It lived in wet parts of prairies and ate soft plants (including water plants). It was 20 ft (6 m) long, was 9 ft (2.8 m) tall at the shoulder and weighed about 4.5 tons (4 tonnes). Fossils have been found in North America. 1 Amebelodon was the most common late Miocene gomphothere found in Florida. There, it had a pair of long, flattened, scoop-like lower tusks in addition to a pair of large upper tusks. 3A very archaic proboscidean characterized by a strongly elongate, protruding mandible that looked like a stout shovel. Its mandible bore very strong incisors, broad and flattened, which projected forward and were probably used to uproot the plants on which it fed. The body was large and possessed a short tail. It had six teeth above and five below. Known from the Lower Miocene (22 1/2 million years ago) and has been discovered in Europe, Asia and Africa. During the Upper Miocene it reached North America. It vanished from Europe in the Lower Pliocene (5 million years ago), but on the other continents it did not become extinct until the Pleistocene. 2
References:
1. http://www.zoomdinosaurs.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/indexa3.shtml - Zoom Dinosaurs, Paleontology Dictionary
2. Simon & Schuster's "Guide to Fossils" (1986), Species #245 - "Gomphotherium"
3. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/vertpaleo/LATE_MIOCENE.htm - Florida Museum of Natural History
4. http://iubio.bio.indiana.edu/R583592-587640-/news/bionet/general/9511.newsm - Indiana University, Biology Dept.
5. http://www.cs.umt.edu/GEOLOGY/classes/Geol106N/chapter14.htm - University of Montana, Geology Dept.