Biology:Stegodontidae

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Short description: Family of extinct elephant-like mammals

Stegodontidae
Temporal range: Miocene–Late Pleistocene
Em - Stegolophodon cautleyi - 1.jpg
Stegolophodon cautleyi
Giant Mastodon Skeleton (10096970493).jpg
Stegodon hunghoensis
Scientific classification e
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Superfamily: Elephantoidea
Family: Stegodontidae
Osborn, 1918
Genera

Stegodontidae is an extinct family of proboscideans from Africa and Asia (with a single occurrence in Europe) from the Early Miocene (at least 17.3 million years ago[1]) to the Late Pleistocene.[2] It contains two genera, the earlier Stegolophodon, known from the Miocene of Asia and the later Stegodon, from the Late Miocene to Late Pleistocene of Africa and Asia (with a single occurrence in Greece) which is thought to have evolved from the former. The group is noted for their plate-like lophs on their teeth, which are similar to elephants and different from those of other extinct proboscideans like gomphotheres and mammutids, with both groups having a proal jaw movement utilizing forward strokes of the lower jaw. These similarities with modern elephants were probably convergently evolved.[1] Like elephantids, stegodontids are thought to have evolved from gomphothere ancestors.[3]

Taxonomy

Stegodontidae was named by Osborn (1918). It was assigned to Mammutoidea by Carroll (1988); to Elephantoidea by Lambert and Shoshani (1998); and to Elephantoidea by Shoshani et al. (2006).[4][5] While Stegodon was historically considered an elephant, this is now largely rejected, with the similarities considered to be convergent.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Saegusa, Haruo (March 2020). "Stegodontidae and Anancus: Keys to understanding dental evolution in Elephantidae" (in en). Quaternary Science Reviews 231: 106176. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106176. Bibcode2020QSRv..23106176S. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379119302665. 
  2. Turvey, Samuel T.; Tong, Haowen; Stuart, Anthony J.; Lister, Adrian M. (2013). "Holocene survival of Late Pleistocene megafauna in China: A critical review of the evidence". Quaternary Science Reviews 76: 156–166. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.06.030. Bibcode2013QSRv...76..156T. 
  3. Wu, Yan; Deng, Tao; Hu, Yaowu; Ma, Jiao; Zhou, Xinying; Mao, Limi; Zhang, Hanwen; Ye, Jie et al. (2018-05-16). "A grazing Gomphotherium in Middle Miocene Central Asia, 10 million years prior to the origin of the Elephantidae" (in en). Scientific Reports 8 (1): 7640. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-25909-4. ISSN 2045-2322. PMID 29769581. Bibcode2018NatSR...8.7640W. 
  4. R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698
  5. J. Shoshani, R. C. Walter, M. Abraha, S. Berhe, P. Tassy, W. J. Sanders, G. H. Marchant, Y. Libsekal, T. Ghirmai and D. Zinner. 2006. A proboscidean from the late Oligocene of Eritrea, a "missing link" between early Elephantiformes and Elephantimorpha, and biogeographic implications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103(46)

Wikidata ☰ Q2196033 entry