Palaeomastodon
Name:
Palaeomastodon
(Ancient mastodon).
Phonetic: Pay-lay-o-mas-toe-don.
Named By: Andrews - 1901.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Eutheria,
Afrotheria, Proboscidea.
Species: P. beadnelli, P. minor,
P. parvus, P. wintoni.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain.
Known locations: Egypt, Ethiopia & Saudi
Arabia.
Time period: Throughout the Oligocene.
Fossil representation: Several individuals.
Palaeomastodon
is widely regarded as being one of the ancestors to modern day
elephants. Remains of Palaeomastodon are usually
just of skull and
mandible fossils, but already the presence of two tusks in the upper
jaw and attachment for a trunk can be clearly seen. Unfortunately no
one knows exactly how long the trunk was, but it may have been
shorter than the trunks of modern elephants since this concept actually
fits in with other primitive elephant forms.
One
clear difference between Palaeomastodon and modern
elephants however
are the incisors of the lower jaw which point forwards out from the
mouth. These incisors effectively form a scoop-like structure which
was likely a feeding aid. How this worked is uncertain because
although the popular perception is that it was used to scoop up
plants, especially aquatic varieties, some later elephants like the
gomphotheres (those like Platybelodon
and Gomphotherium
etc.)
seemed to use their forward facing lower incisors to scrape bark off
of trees.
Further reading
- The feeding habits of the shovel-tusked gomphotheres: evidence
from tusk wear patterns, W. D. Lambert - 1992.
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