Platybelodon ("flat front tooth") 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.

History of discovery

Early years

In the summer of 1927, the remains of a proboscidean were recovered from the Miocene-age Tchokrak beds of the Kuban region (north Caucasus). The remains recovered were fragmentary, consisting of a partial skull and a nearly complete mandible (lower jaw) in one specimen, and a few disarticulated teeth and bones of others.[1] On April 4, 1928, Russian palaeontologist Alexey Borissiak briefly described the remains, assigning to them the binomial name Platybelodon danovi.[2] The etymology of the name is obscure, though it may translate to "shovel tooth", "broad tooth", or "plate tooth".[3] A year after his initial description, Borissiak, he published a more detailed diagnosis of the relevant specimens. Borissiak believed that P. danovi, represented a new branch of mastodont taxonomy, though did not provide a name.[1]

On July 28, 1928, during the Central Asiatic Expeditions to Mongolia, Roy Chapman Andrews and Walter W. Granger came upon a series of mandibles and teeth in the Tung Gur locality. The following year, Henry Fairfield Osborn assigned them to Platybelodon, assigning to them the name Platybelodon grangeri, after Granger. AMNH 26202, the partial mandible of an adult, was designated as the type specimen.[4]

Distribution

P. grangeri fossils are known from China.[5]

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.[6] Adults in particular might have eaten coarser vegetation more frequently than juveniles.[7]

Ontogenetic growth series (from fetus to adult)

Images

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  • Outdated 1932 restoration of P. grangeri as a swamp-dweller.
    Outdated 1932 restoration of P. grangeri as a swamp-dweller.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Borissiak, Alexey (1929). "On a new direction in the adaptive radiation of mastodonts" (PDF). Palaeobiologica. 2: 19–33.
  2. ^ Borissiak, Alexey (1928). "On a new Mastodon from the Chokrak beds (Middle Miocene) of the Kuban region, Platybelodon danovi n. gen. n. sp". Ann. Soc. Paleont. Russie, Tom: 105–120.
  3. ^ Wang, Shi-Qi; Li, Chun-Xiao; Zhang, Xiao-Xiao (2021). "On the scientific names of mastodont taxa: nomenclature, Chinese translation, and taxonomic problems". Vertebrata Palasiatica. 59 (4): 295–332.
  4. ^ Granger, Walter; Osborn, Henry Fairfield (1931). "The shovel-tuskers, Amebelodontinae, of Central Asia. American Museum novitates ; no. 470". Biodiversity Heritage Library. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.

Further reading

  • Harry Cox, Colin Harrison, R.J.G. Savage, and Brian Gardiner. (1999): The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures: A Visual Who's Who of Prehistoric Life. Simon & Schuster.
  • Jordi Agusti and Mauricio Anton. (2002): Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids. Pg.90, Columbia University Press.
  • Jayne Parsons.(2001): Dinosaur Encyclopedia. Pg.260, Dorling Kindersley.
  • David Norman. (2001): The Big Book Of Dinosaurs. Pg.420-421, Welcome Books.
  • Hazel Richardson.(2003): Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals (Smithsonian Handbooks). Pg.173, Dorling Kindersley.
Allikas: Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platybelodon
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