- Prodeinotherium
Taxobox
name = Prodeinotherium
fossil_range = Early to MidMiocene
regnum =Animal ia
phylum = Chordata
classis =Mammal ia
ordo =Proboscidea
subordo = †Deinotheroidea
familia = †Deinotheriidae
subfamilia = †Deinotheriinae
genus = †"Prodeinotherium"
genus_authority = Ehik, 1930
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = †"P. bavaricum" (von Meyer, 1831)Ehik , 1930
†"P. hobleyi" (Andrews, 1911) Harris, 1973
†"P. orlovii" (Sahni &Tripathi , 1957)
†"P. pentapotamiae" (Falconer, 1868)
†"P. sinense" Qiu et al., 2007"Prodeinotherium" (pro - "before" "terrible beast") is an early representative of the family Deinotheriidae, that lived in Africa, Europe, and Asia in the early and middle
Miocene . It was the size of a small elephant, about 9 feet at the shoulders, but differed from elephants in possessing a pair of downward curving tusks on the lower jaw. In appearance and many characters it was like "Deinotherium " (with which it is placed in the same subfamily, Deinotheriinae (Sanders "et al" 2004), but differed in being of smaller size, having shorter forelimbs, and also in various details in the shape and form of the teeth.The earliest species to appear is "Prodeinotherium hobleyi", known from the Early Miocene of
Kenya andUganda (about 18 to 20 million years old). A molar of a small prodeinothere fromEritrea may also belong to this species and be of the same age."Prodeinotherium" was larger and more specialised than its
Oligocene predecessor "Chilgatherium ". It flourished for several millions of years, before being suddenly replaced in the middle Miocene by the much larger "Deinotherium".References
* Harris, J.M. (1978) Deinotherioidea and Barytherioidea. 315-332, in Maglio, V. J. & Cooke, H. B. S., (eds.) 1978: "Evolution of African mammals", Harvard University Press, Cambridge & London
* Sanders, W.J., 2003, chap 10, Proboscidea, inMikael Fortelius (ed) "Geology and paleontology of the Miocene Sinap Formation, Turkey", Columbia University Press, New York
* Sanders, W. J., Kappelman, J. & Rasmussen, D. T., 2004: New large-bodied mammals from the late Oligocene site of Chilga, Ethiopia. "Acta Palaeontologica Polonica" Vol. 49, no.3, pp. 365-392 [http://app.pan.pl/acta49/app49-365.pdf pdf]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
