Mammutidae is an extinct family of proboscideans belonging to Elephantimorpha. It is best known for the mastodons (genus Mammut) which inhabited North America from the Late Miocene (around 8 million years ago) until their extinction at the beginning of the Holocene around 11,000 years ago. The earliest fossils of the group are known from the Late Oligocene of Africa, around 24 million years ago, and fossils of the group have also been found across Eurasia. The name "mastodon" derives from Ancient Greek μαστός (mastós), meaning "nipple", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth", referring to their ch
Mammutidae is an extinct family of proboscideans belonging to Elephantimorpha. It is best known for the mastodons (genus Mammut) which inhabited North America from the Late Miocene (around 8 million years ago) until their extinction at the beginning of the Holocene around 11,000 years ago. The earliest fossils of the group are known from the Late Oligocene of Africa, around 24 million years ago, and fossils of the group have also been found across Eurasia. The name "mastodon" derives from Ancient Greek μαστός (mastós), meaning "nipple", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth", referring to their characteristic teeth.
== Description == Mammutids are characterised by their zygodont molars, where pairs of parallel cusps are merged into sharp-sided riges, which are morphologically conservative and differ little between mammutid species.' Like other members of Elephantimorpha, mammutids exhibited horizontal tooth replacement like modern elephants. Some authors have argued that horizontal tooth replacement evolved in parallel in mammutids and members of Elephantida (which includes gomphotheres and elephants), though this is uncertain. Compared to modern elephants, the bones of most mammutids were more robust, with the limb bones in particular being massive,' with the legs being proportionally shorter than living elephants, while their bodies were proportionally more elongate. Early members of the group like Eozygodon and Zygolophodon had elongate mandibular symphysis (the front-most part) of the lower jaws with lower incisors/tusks (which tend to be flattened and narrow in shape), while in later representatives like Sinomammut and Mammut, the lower incisors/tusks were either lost or only vestigially present, and the lower jaws shortened (brevirostrine). This process happened convergently amongst other elephantimorph proboscideans, including gomphotheres, stegodontids, and elephantids. Mammutids are thought to have had prehensile trunks like those of living elephants, with those of Mammut suggested to have been possibly long enough to reach the ground. The upper tusks in primitive mammutids are relatively small as well as being downward (ventrally) and outward (laterally) curving, while those of mastodons (Mammut) are large and upward curving, often reaching around in length. The mammutid "Mammut" borsoni is one of the largest of all proboscideans with an estimated average male body weight of making it one of the largest land mammals of all time, with the tusks of this species being the longest known of any animal, reaching over in length. The encephalization quotient of mammutids is lower than those of modern elephants, indicating mammutids had proportionally smaller brains relative to body size, though their brains are proportionally larger than those of more primitive non-elephantimorph proboscideans.
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