Gomphothere

Gomphothere Temporal range: 28–0.01 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Late Oligocene - Holocene
Specimen of Gomphotherium productum at the American Museum of Natural History
Notiomastodon platensis Centro Cultural del Bicentenario de Santiago del Estero in Argentina
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Superfamily:	†Gomphotherioidea
Family:	†Gomphotheriidae (Hay, 1922) A. Cabrera 1929
Genera
"Trilophodont gomphotheres" †Gomphotherium Burmeister, 1837 †Blancotherium May, 2019 †Gnathabelodon? Barbour & Sternberg, 1935 †Megabelodon? Barbour 1914 †Sinomastodon Tobien et al., 1986 †Rhynchotherium Falconer, 1868 †Cuvieronius Osborn, 1923 †Stegomastodon Pohlig, 1912 †Notiomastodon Cabrera, 1929 †Eubelodon? Barbour 1914 "Tetralophodont gomphotheres" †Anancus †Paratetralophodon †Pediolophodon †Tetralophodon

Gomphotheres are an extinct group of proboscideans related to modern elephants. First appearing in Africa during the Oligocene, they dispersed into Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and arrived in South America during the Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange. Gomphotheres are a paraphyletic group ancestral to Elephantidae, which contains modern elephants, as well as Stegodontidae.

While most famous forms such as Gomphotherium had long lower jaws with tusks, the ancestral condition for the group, some later members developed shortened (brevirostrine) lower jaws with either vestigial or no lower tusks and outlasted the long-jawed gomphotheres. This change made them look very similar to modern elephants, an example of parallel evolution. During the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene, the diversity of gomphotheres declined, ultimately becoming extinct outside of the Americas. The last two genera, Cuvieronius ranging southern North America to western South America, and Notiomastodon ranging over most of South America, continued to exist until the end of the Pleistocene around 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct along with many other megafauna species following the arrival of humans.

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