PBDB Taxon

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Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Gomphotherium

Mammalia - Proboscidea - Gomphotheriidae

Taxonomy

Gomphotherium was named by Burmeister (1837). It is not extant. It was considered paraphyletic by Lambert (2007).

It was assigned to Gomphotheriini by McKenna and Bell (1997); to Gomphotheriinae by Simpson (1945), Shoshani and Tassy (2005) and Sanders et al. (2010); and to Gomphotheriidae by Burmeister (1837), Gazin and Collins (1950), Qiu et al. (1981), Carroll (1988), Shoshani and Tassy (1996), Lambert and Shoshani (1998), Sach and Heizmann (2001), Sanders and Miller (2002), Lambert (2007), Boessenecker (2011) and Mothé et al. (2016).

Species lacking formal opinion data

G. subtapiroideum

Synonyms

Tatabelodon was named by Frick (1933). Its type is Tatabelodon riograndensis.

It was synonymized subjectively with Gomphotherium by Lambert and Shoshani (1998).
Genomastodon was named by Barbour (1917).

It was synonymized subjectively with Gomphotherium by Tobien (1973) and Shoshani and Tassy (1996).
Ocalientinus was named by Frick (1933). Its type is Ocalientinus ojocaliensis.

It was synonymized subjectively with Gomphotherium by Tobien (1972), Tobien (1973), Tedford and Barghoorn (1993), Shoshani and Tassy (1996), Lambert (1996) and Lambert and Shoshani (1998).

It was assigned to Proboscidea by Frick (1933).
Serridentinus was named by Osborn (1923).

It was reranked as Trilophodon (Serridentinus) by Frick (1926); it was synonymized subjectively with Gomphotherium by Tobien (1972), Madden and Storer (1985), Shoshani and Tassy (1996), Lambert (1996), Lambert and Shoshani (1998) and Christiansen (2007).

It was assigned to Trilophodon by Frick (1926); and to Gomphotheriinae by Simpson (1945).
Tetrabelodon was named by Cope (1884).

It was reranked as Trilophodon (Tetrabelodon) by Frick (1921); it was synonymized subjectively with Gomphotherium by Matthew (1918), Tobien (1973), Madden and Storer (1985) and Shoshani and Tassy (1996).

It was assigned to Elephantidae by Cope (1889); and to Trilophodon by Frick (1921).
Trilophodon was named by Falconer (1857) [also said to be 1847 and 1842].

It was reranked as Mastodon (Trilophodon) by Lydekker (1877) and Lydekker (1880); it was synonymized subjectively with Gomphotherium by Matthew (1918), Tobien (1973), Shoshani and Tassy (1996), Lambert (1996) and Lambert and Shoshani (1998).

It was assigned to Mastodon by Lydekker (1877) and Lydekker (1880); and to Longirostrinae by Bergounioux et al. (1953).
Trobelodon was named by Frick (1933). Its type is Trobelodon taoensis.

It was synonymized subjectively with Gomphotherium by Tobien (1972), Tobien (1973), Tedford and Barghoorn (1993), Shoshani and Tassy (1996), Lambert (1996) and Lambert and Shoshani (1998).

It was assigned to Proboscidea by Frick (1933).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1837	Gomphotherium Burmeister
1857	Trilophodon Falconer
1877	Mastodon (Trilophodon) Lydekker
1880	Mastodon (Trilophodon) Lydekker
1884	Tetrabelodon Cope
1889	Tetrabelodon Cope p. 193
1917	Genomastodon Barbour
1921	Trilophodon (Tetrabelodon) Frick p. 405
1923	Serridentinus Osborn
1926	Trilophodon (Serridentinus) Frick p. 158
1933	Ocalientinus Frick p. 579
1933	Trobelodon Frick p. 580
1933	Tatabelodon Frick p. 581
1945	Gomphotherium Simpson
1945	Serridentinus Simpson
1950	Gomphotherium Gazin and Collins p. 7
1953	Trilophodon Bergounioux et al. p. 29
1981	Gomphotherium Qiu et al.
1988	Gomphotherium Carroll
1996	Gomphotherium Shoshani and Tassy p. 352
1997	Gomphotherium McKenna and Bell p. 500
1998	Gomphotherium Lambert and Shoshani p. 610
2001	Gomphotherium Sach and Heizmann p. 40
2002	Gomphotherium Sanders and Miller p. 389
2005	Gomphotherium Shoshani and Tassy p. 9 figs. Table 2
2007	Gomphotherium Lambert p. 681
2010	Gomphotherium Sanders et al. p. 196
2011	Gomphotherium Boessenecker p. 2
2016	Gomphotherium Mothé et al.

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota

Rank	Name	Author
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Afrotheria	Stanhope et al. 1998
—	Tethytheria
order	Proboscidea	()
family	Gomphotheriidae	Hay 1922
genus	Gomphotherium	Burmeister 1837

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Gomphotherium Burmeister 1837

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†Gomphotherium anguirvalis Osborn 1926

†Gomphotherium angustidens Burmeister 1837

†Gomphotherium brewsterensis Osborn 1926

†Gomphotherium connexus Hopwood 1935

†Gomphotherium emmonsi Hay 1930

†Gomphotherium gratum Hay 1916

†Gomphotherium nebrascensis Osborn 1924

†Gomphotherium ngorora Maglio 1974

†Gomphotherium productum Cope 1874

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Invalid names: Gomphotherium pojoaquense Frick 1926 [synonym], Mastodon serridens Cope 1884 [synonym], Megabelodon minor Mawby 1968 [synonym], Ocalientinus ojocaliensis Frick 1933 [synonym], Tetrabelodon lulli Barbour 1914 [synonym], Trilophodon cruziensis Frick 1933 [synonym], Trilophodon joraki Frick 1933 [synonym], Trilophodon phippsi Cook 1928 [synonym]

†Gomphotherium pygmaeus Depéret 1897

†Gomphotherium rugosidens Leidy 1890

†Gomphotherium shensiensis Chang and Zhai 1978

†Gomphotherium simplicidens Osborn 1923

†Gomphotherium wimani Hopwood 1935

Invalid names: Genomastodon Barbour 1917 [synonym], Ocalientinus Frick 1933 [synonym], Serridentinus Osborn 1923 [synonym], Tatabelodon Frick 1933 [synonym], Tetrabelodon Cope 1884 [synonym], Trilophodon Falconer 1857 [synonym], Trobelodon Frick 1933 [synonym]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

terrestrialsubc

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Life habit:

ground dwellingg

Diet:

browserg

Reproduction:

viviparoussubc

Created:

2005-08-31 15:16:35

Modified:

2005-08-31 17:16:35

Source: g = genus, subc = subclass, c = class, subp = subphylum

References: Lillegraven 1979, Ji et al. 2002, Hendy et al. 2009, Carroll 1988, Lambert and Shoshani 1998

Age range: base of the Chattian to the top of the Late/Upper Pleistocene or 28.10000 to 0.01170 Ma

Collections (231 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Oldest occurrences
Oligocene	33.9 - 23.03	Saudi Arabia (Al Hijaz)	G. sp. (97221)
Late/Upper Oligocene - Burdigalian	28.4 - 15.97	China (Gansu)	G. sp. (42066)
Chattian	28.1 - 23.03	Ethiopia	G. sp. (71941)
MN 1	23.03 - 22.4	Germany	G. sp. (70327)
Aquitanian - Burdigalian	23.03 - 15.97	Libya	Mastodon angustidens (42130)
Early/Lower Miocene	23.03 - 15.97	Egypt	G. angustidens (123296)
Early/Lower Miocene	23.03 - 15.97	Mongolia	Serridentinus mongoliensis (137619)
Early/Lower Miocene	23.03 - 15.97	Kenya	Platybelodon kisumensis (70808)
Early/Lower Miocene	23.03 - 15.97	Germany	G. angustidens (70361) G. subtapiroideum (70362)
Early/Lower Miocene - Middle Miocene	23.03 - 11.608	Namibia	Proboscidea indet. (70420 70421)
Youngest occurrences
Time interval	Ma	Country or state	PBDB collection number
Messinian	7.246 - 5.333	Romania	Trilophodon angustidens (35125)
Messinian	7.246 - 5.333	Bulgaria	G. angustidens (215636)
Early/Lower Pliocene	5.333 - 3.6	Kazakhstan	Mastodon angustidens (76289)
Zanclean	5.333 - 3.6	USA (North Carolina)	G. sp. (52582)
Gelasian	2.588 - 1.806	United Kingdom (England)	Mastodon angustidens (48093)
Early/Lower Pleistocene	2.588 - 0.781	China (Guanxi)	G. serridentoides (230994)
Early/Lower Pleistocene	2.588 - 0.781	China (Hunan)	G. serridemtoides (36818) G. serridemtoides, G. sp. (36819)
Pleistocene	2.588 - 0.0117	Guatemala (Guatemala)	Gomphotherium indet. (189384)
Pleistocene	2.588 - 0.0117	USA (Texas)	G. gratum (85137)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	Nicaragua	G. sp. (71267)