Eozygodon

Eozygodon
Temporal range: Early Miocene
~23–16 Ma
Occlusal view of the third lower molar (m3) of E. morotoensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: †Mammutidae
Genus: †Eozygodon
Tassy & Pickford, 1983
Species:
†E. morotoensis
Binomial name
†Eozygodon morotoensis
Tassy & Pickford, 1983

Eozygodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean in the family Mammutidae that is based on a single species, E. morotoensis, named in 1983.[1] It is known from the Early Miocene of Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Namibia)[2] and well as possibly the Middle Miocene of China.[3] It is considered a primitive member of the family, retaining a long lower jaw (longirostrine) with lower tusks.[3][4] The upper tusks are small, and are parallel to each other. The skull of the young adult (around 24-26 years old in African elephant tooth wear equivalent years) AM 02 from Auchas, Namibia, was around the size of that of a 10 year old American mastodon,[5] around 60 centimetres (2.0 ft) in maximum length.[6] Dental mesowear from East African specimens suggests a browsing diet.[7] Some authors suggest that Eozygodon could be less closely related to other members of Mammutidae than other mammutids are to Elephantida, making Mammutidae as typically defined paraphyletic.[5]

  1. ^ Tassy, P. and Pickford, M. (1983). Un nouveau mastodonte zygolophodonte (Proboscidea, Mammalia) dans le Miocène Inférieur d'Afrique orientale: Systématique et paléoenvironnement. Géobios 16: 53-77.
  2. ^ William J. Sanders; Emmanuel Gheerbrant; John M. Harris; Haruo Saegusa; Cyrille Delmer (2010). "Proboscidea". In Werdelin, Lars; Sanders, William Joseph (eds.). Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press. pp. 186–. ISBN 978-0-520-25721-4.
  3. ^ a b Zhang, Xiaoxiao; Wang, Shiqi (2021-09-02). "First report of Eozygodon (Mammutidae, Proboscidea) in Eurasia". Historical Biology. 33 (9): 1661–1670. Bibcode:2021HBio...33.1661Z. doi:10.1080/08912963.2020.1723579. ISSN 0891-2963. S2CID 213467027.
  4. ^ Mothé, Dimila; Avilla, Leonardo S.; Zhao, Desi; Xie, Guangpu; Sun, Boyang; Mothé, Dimila; Avilla, Leonardo S.; Zhao, Desi; Xie, Guangpu (2016). "A new Mammutidae (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene of Gansu Province, China". Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências. 88 (1): 65–74. doi:10.1590/0001-3765201520150261. ISSN 0001-3765. PMID 26839998.
  5. ^ a b Tassy, P. 2018. Remarks on the cranium of Eozygodon morotoensis (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the early Miocene of Africa, and the question of the monophyly of Elephantimorpha. Revue Paléobiologie, Genève, 37:593-607.
  6. ^ M. Pickford "New Proboscidea from the Miocene strata of the lower Orange River Valley, Namibia" Memoir Geological Survey Namibia, 19 (2003), pp. 207-256
  7. ^ Saarinen, Juha; Lister, Adrian M. (2023-08-14). "Fluctuating climate and dietary innovation drove ratcheted evolution of proboscidean dental traits". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 7 (9): 1490–1502. Bibcode:2023NatEE...7.1490S. doi:10.1038/s41559-023-02151-4. ISSN 2397-334X. PMC 10482678. PMID 37580434.