Prodeinotherium

Prodeinotherium
Temporal range: 20.5–15.5 Ma
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Prodeinotherium bavaricum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: †Deinotheriidae
Subfamily: †Deinotheriinae
Genus: †Prodeinotherium
Ehik, 1930
Species[2]
  • P. bavaricum (Meyer, 1831)
  • P. hobleyi (Andrews, 1911)
  • P. pentapotamiae (Falconer, 1868)
  • P. sinense Qiu et al., 2007[1]
Synonyms[2][3]

Prodinotherium Ehik, 1930

P. bavaricum
  • Deinotherium bavaricum Meyer, 1831
  • Dinotherium cuvieri Kaup, 1832
  • Dinotherium bavaricum Meyer, 1833
  • Deinotherium secundarium Lartet, 1836
  • Prodeinotherium hungaricum Ehik, 1930
  • Prodeinotherium petenyii Vörös, 1989
P. pentapotamiae
  • Dinotherium pentapotamiae Falconer, 1868
  • Deinotherium orlovii Sahni & Tripathi, 1957
  • Prodeinotherium orlovii (Sahni & Tripathi, 1957)
P. hobleyi
  • Dinotherium hobleyi Andrews, 1911

Prodeinotherium is an extinct representative of the family Deinotheriidae that lived in Africa, Europe, and Asia in the early and middle Miocene. Prodeinotherium, meaning "before terrible beast", was first named in 1930, but soon after, the only species in it, P. hungaricum, was reassigned to Deinotherium. During the 1970s, however, the two genera were once again separated, with Prodeinotherium diagnosed to include Deinotherium bavaricum (=P. hungaricum), Deinotherium hobleyi, and Deinotherium pentapotamiae, which were separated based on geographic location. The three species are from Europe, Africa, and Asia, respectively. However, because of usage of few characters to separate them, only one species, P. bavaricum, or many more species, including P. cuvieri, P. orlovii, and P. sinense may be possible.

Prodeinotherium is one of three genera of the Deinotheriidae, the others being Chilgatherium from Africa, and Deinotherium from Europe, Africa, and Asia. Chilgatherium preceded Prodeinotherium, while Deinotherium succeeded it. P. hobleyi was the first species of Prodeinotherium, and it migrated into Asia and Europe before evolving into P. pentapotamiae and then P. bavaricum. Prodeinotherium lived for the Early Miocene and Middle Miocene before being replaced by Deinotherium. The deinotheriids are an early branch of proboscideans, although more derived than Barytherium and Moeritherium.

All deinotheres were large animals that evolved to be even larger, and many features are shared throughout the group. Prodeinotherium and Deinotherium both had large, downcurved tusks on the lower jaw, but none on the upper jaw. This could have been used to grasp food while the tusks moved branches out of the way. Prodeinotherium was slightly smaller than Deinotherium, yet much larger than more primitive proboscideans. All Prodeinotherium species were similar in size, ranging from 2.5 to 2.8 m (8.2 to 9.2 ft) tall and weighing about 3.1 to 4.3 t (490 to 680 st).

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference sa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference huttunen02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Huttunen, K.; Gohlich, U.B. (2002). "A partial skeleton of Prodeinotherium bavaricum (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the Middle Miocene of Unterzolling (Upper Freshwater Molasse, Germany)" (PDF). Geobios. 35 (4): 489–514. Bibcode:2002Geobi..35..489H. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(02)00042-6.