Platybelodon

Platybelodon; Temporal range: Miocene, 15–10 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Platybelodon grangeri skeleton, Inner Mongolia Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Family:	†Amebelodontidae
Subfamily:	†Platybelodontinae
Genus:	†Platybelodon; Borissiak, 1928
Type species
	†Platybelodon danovi; Borissiak, 1928
Species
	P. grangeri Osborn, 1929; P. beliajevae Alexeeva, 1971; P. tongxinensis Chen, 1978; P. tetralophus Wang and Li, 2022;

Platybelodon ("flat-spear tusk") is an extinct genus of large herbivorous proboscidean mammals related to modern-day elephants, placed in the "shovel tusker" family Amebelodontidae. Species lived during the middle Miocene Epoch in Africa, Asia and the Caucasus.

Distribution

P. grangeri fossils are known from China.^[1]

Palaeobiology

Platybelodon was previously believed to have fed in the swampy areas of grassy savannas, using its teeth to shovel up aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation. However, wear patterns on the teeth suggest that it used its lower tusks to strip bark from trees, and may have used the sharp incisors that formed the edge of the "shovel" more like a modern-day scythe, grasping branches with its trunk and rubbing them against the lower teeth to cut it from a tree.^[2] Adults in particular might have eaten coarser vegetation more frequently than juveniles.^[3]

Ontogenetic growth series (from fetus to adult)

Images

P. grangeri reconstruction with size comparison.
Life reconstruction of P. grangeri.
P. grangeri skull.
P. grangeri molar.
P. danovi skull, National Natural History Museum of China
Outdated 1932 restoration of P. grangeri as a swamp-dweller.

References

^ Sun, Bo-Yang; Wang, Xiu-Xi; Ji, Min-Xiao; Pang, Li-Bo; Shi, Qin-Qin; Hou, Su-Kuan; Sun, Dan-Hui; Wang, Shi-Qi (June 2018). "Miocene mammalian faunas from Wushan, China and their evolutionary, biochronological, and biogeographic significances". Palaeoworld. 27 (2): 258–270. doi:10.1016/j.palwor.2017.08.001. Retrieved 30 September 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
^ Lambert, W.D (1992). "The feeding habits of the shovel-tusked gomphotheres: evidence from tusk wear patterns". Paleobiology. 18 (2): 132–147. Bibcode:1992Pbio...18..132L. doi:10.1017/S0094837300013932. JSTOR 2400995. S2CID 87230816.
^ Semprebon, Gina; Tao, Deng; Hasjanova, Jelena; Solounias, Nikos (2016). "An examination of the dietary habits of Platybelodon grangeri from the Linxia Basin of China: Evidence from dental microwear of molar teeth and tusks". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 457: 109–116. Bibcode:2016PPP...457..109S. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.06.012.

External links

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[1] Sun, Bo-Yang; Wang, Xiu-Xi; Ji, Min-Xiao; Pang, Li-Bo; Shi, Qin-Qin; Hou, Su-Kuan; Sun, Dan-Hui; Wang, Shi-Qi (June 2018). "Miocene mammalian faunas from Wushan, China and their evolutionary, biochronological, and biogeographic significances". Palaeoworld. 27 (2): 258–270. doi:10.1016/j.palwor.2017.08.001. Retrieved 30 September 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.

[lambert1992-2] Lambert, W.D (1992). "The feeding habits of the shovel-tusked gomphotheres: evidence from tusk wear patterns". Paleobiology. 18 (2): 132–147. Bibcode:1992Pbio...18..132L. doi:10.1017/S0094837300013932. JSTOR 2400995. S2CID 87230816.

[3] Semprebon, Gina; Tao, Deng; Hasjanova, Jelena; Solounias, Nikos (2016). "An examination of the dietary habits of Platybelodon grangeri from the Linxia Basin of China: Evidence from dental microwear of molar teeth and tusks". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 457: 109–116. Bibcode:2016PPP...457..109S. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.06.012.

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