Gomphothere

Gomphothere
Temporal range: 12–0.006 Ma

Miocene - Holocene

Specimen of Gomphotherium productum at the AMNH
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Superfamily: †Gomphotherioidea
Family: †Gomphotheriidae
(Hay, 1922) A. Cabrera 1929
Genera[1]

Gomphotheres are any members of the diverse, extinct taxonomic family Gomphotheriidae. Gomphotheres were superficially elephant-like proboscideans. They were widespread in North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, 12–1.6 million years ago. Some lived in parts of Eurasia, Beringia, and following the Great American Interchange, South America. Beginning about 5 million years ago, they were gradually replaced by modern elephants, apart from the last two South American genera, of which Cuvieronius did not become extinct until possibly as recently as 9,100 BP,[3] and Stegomastodon fossils have been dated to as recently as 6,060 BP in the Valle del Magdalena, Colombia.[4] These gomphotheres also survived in Mexico and Central America until the end of the Pleistocene.[5]

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

Description

Gomphotheres differed from elephants in their tooth structure, particularly the chewing surfaces on the molar teeth. Most had four tusks, and their retracted facial and nasal bones prompt paleontologists to believe that gomphotheres had elephant-like trunks.[6]

Taxonomy

Both the genus Gomphotherium and family Gomphotheriidae were erected by the German zoologist Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister (1807-1892) in 1837.

The genera Anancus, Morrillia, Paratetralophodon, and Tetralophodon, but also Choerolophodontidae and Amebelodontidae were formerly classified as gomphotheres, but recent work recovers gomphotheres sensu lato, as paraphyletic, with tetralophodont gompotheres closely related to Elephantidae and amebelodonts and choerolophodonts more primitive than trilophodont gomphotheres.[7][8][9]

Diet

Isotopic analyses for South American gomphotheres suggest a wide diet for Notiomastodon platensis except for the localities in Santiago del Estero and La Carolina in Ecuador. Isotope analyses suggested an exclusive C4 diet, whereas every other South American locality indicate an exclusive C3 or mixed C3 and C4 diet. The results also support the latitudinal gradient of C3 and C4 grasses. The stereomicrowear analyses for N. platensis exhibited average scratch and pit values, which place it within the extant mixed-feeder morphospace and the higher frequency of fine scratches indicated the ingestion of C3 grasses. Alternatively, the presence of coarse and hypercoarse scratches along with gouges and large pits suggested the ingestion of foliage and lignified portions. The plant microfossil analysis recovered fragments of conifer tracheid and vessel elements with a ray of parenchyma cells, which corroborates the consumption of wood plants, pollen grains, spores, and fibers. The Aguas de Araxa gomphotheres were feeding generalists and consumed wood elements, leaves, and C3 grasses.[10] Cuvieronius specimens from Chile were exclusively C3 plant eaters, whereas specimens from Bolivia and Ecuador had a mixed C3 and C4 diet. Notiomastodon showed a wider range of dietary adaptations. Specimens from Quequen Salado in Buenos Aires Province were entirely C3 feeders, whereas the diet of specimens from La Carolina Peninsula in Ecuador was exclusively C4.[11]

Possible cause for extinction

The results confirm that the ancient diet and diet habits cannot always be interpreted solely from dental morphology or extrapolated from present relatives. The data from middle and late Pleistocene periods point out that over time, there was an adaptive change in dietary resources, away from one that favored predominantly mixed-feeders to more specialized feeders, and that this dietary evolution was one of the contributing causes that forced gomphotheres toward extinction in the late Pleistocene in South America.[12] The remaining population probably succumbed to climatic change and/or human predation around the time of the Holocene margin.[13]

Associations with early human sites

Gomphothere remains are common at South American Paleo-indian sites.[14] Examples include the early human settlement at Monte Verde, Chile, dating to approximately 14,000 years ago, and the Valle del Magdalena, Colombia.[4] In 2011, remains dating between 10,600 and 11,600 years ago were also found in the El Fin del Mundo (End of the World) site in Sonora, Mexico's Clovis location – the first time such an association was found in a northern part of the continent where gomphotheres had been thought to have gone extinct 30,000 years ago.[15] In July 2014, it was announced that the "position and proximity of Clovis weapon fragments relative to the gomphothere bones at the site suggest that humans did in fact kill the two animals there. Of the seven Clovis points found at the site, four were in place among the bones, including one with bone and teeth fragments above and below. The other three points had clearly eroded away from the bone bed and were found scattered nearby."[16]

Gomphotherium angustidens 
Gomphothere models in Osorno. 

References

  1. ↑ Shoshani, Jeheskel; Pascal Tassy (2005). "Advances in proboscidean taxonomy & classification, anatomy & physiology, and ecology & behavior". Quaternary International. 126-128: 5–20. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2004.04.011.
  2. ↑ Campbell, K. E., Frailey, C. D., & Romero Pittman, L. (2000). The Late Miocene Gomphothere Amahuacatherium peruvium (Proboscidea: Gomphotheriidae) from Amazonian Peru: Implications for the great american faunal interchange-[Boletín D 23]. INGEMMET.
  3. ↑ Rafael O. Labarca and Patrick G. Lopez, "Los mamíferos finipleistocénicos de la Formación Quebrada Quereo (IV Región-Chile): biogeografía, bioestratigrafía e inferencias paleoambientales", Mastozoología Neotropical, Volume 13, Number 1, (June 2006), 89-101
  4. 1 2 Rodríguez-Flórez, Carlos David; Ernesto León Rodríguez-Flórez; Carlos Armando Rodríguez (2009). "Revision of Pleistocenic Gomphotheriidae Fauna in Colombia and case report in the Department of Valle Del Cauca" (PDF). Scientific Bulletin. Museum Center - Natural History Museum. 13 (2): 78–85. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  5. ↑ Graham, R. W. (2001). "Late Quaternary Biogeography and Extinction of Proboscideans in North America" (PDF). In Cavarretta, G.; Gioia, P.; Mussi, M.; et al. The World of Elephants (La Terra degli Elefanti) - Proceedings of the 1st International Congress (Atti del 1º Congresso Internazionale), Rome October 16-20 2001. Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. pp. 707–709. ISBN 88-8080-025-6. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  6. ↑ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. pp. 239–242. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
  7. ↑ J. Shoshani and P. Tassy. 2005. Advances in proboscidean taxonomy & classification, anatomy & physiology, and ecology & behavior. Quaternary International 126-128:5-20
  8. ↑ Shi-Qi Wang; Tao Deng; Jie Ye; Wen He; Shan-Qin Chen (2016). Morphological and ecological diversity of Amebelodontidae (Proboscidea, Mammalia) revealed by a Miocene fossil accumulation of an upper-tuskless proboscidean. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Online edition. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1208687.
  9. ↑ Mothé D, Ferretti MP, Avilla LS (2016) The Dance of Tusks: Rediscovery of Lower Incisors in the Pan-American Proboscidean Cuvieronius hyodon Revises Incisor Evolution in Elephantimorpha. PLoS ONE 11(1): e0147009. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147009
  10. ↑ Asevedo, Lidiane; Winck, Gisele R.; Mothe, Dimila; Avilla,Leonardo S. (2012) "Ancient Diet of the Pleistocene Gomphothere Notiomastodon Platensis (Mammalia, Proboscidea, Gomphotheriidae) from Lowland Mid-latitudes of South America: Stereomicrowear and Tooth Calculus Analyses Combined" Quaternary International 255 45-52
  11. ↑ Alberdi, Maria Teresa; Prado, José Luis; Perea, Daniel; Ubilla, Martin (2007) "Stegomastodon waringi (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the Late Pleistocene of northeastern Uruguay" Neues Jahrbuch Für Geologie Und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 243.2 179-189
  12. ↑ Sanchez, Begoña; Prado, José Luis; Alberdi, Maria Teresa (2004) "Feeding ecology, dispersal, and extinction of South American pleistocene gomphotheres (Gomphotheriidae, Proboscidea)" Paleobiology 30.1 146-161
  13. ↑ "Extinction of a gomphothere population from Southeastern Brazil: Taphonomic, paleoecological and chronological remarks", Quaternary International, Cristina Bertoni-Machado 2012) (abstract). Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  14. ↑ Prado, J. L.; Alberdi, M. T.; Azanza, B.; Sánchez, B.; Frassinetti, D. (2005). "The Pleistocene Gomphotheriidae (Proboscidea) from South America". Quaternary International. 126-128: 21–30. Bibcode:2005QuInt.126...21P. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2004.04.012.
  15. ↑ "Finding would reveal contact between humans and gomphotheres in North America", Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 24 January 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  16. ↑ "Bones of elephant ancestor unearthed: Meet the gomphothere" Science Daily, 14 July 2014
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