Phiomia

Phiomia (after the Ancient Greek phiom "lake", an ancient name for the Fayum) is an extinct genus of basal elephantiform proboscidean that lived in what is now Northern Africa during the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene some 37–30 million years ago. The type specimen of Phiomia, part of the mandible (lower jaw), was described in 1902 by Charles William Andrews and Hugh John Llewellyn. Unsure of its identity, they assigned it, tentatively, to the obsolete order Creodonta. Subsequently, it was recognised as a proboscidean. Briefly it was treated as a junior synonym of Palaeomastodon, but the two are regarded as separate genera. Though five species have been assigned to Phiomia over the years, only two, P. serridens (the type species) and P. major, are currently recognised.

Phiomia was fairly small in terms of body size, with an estimated shoulder height in the case of P. serridens. In some regards it resembled Palaeomastodon, though was less basal and bore similarities to gomphotheres, to the point where it was briefly considered their ancestor. A retracted naris (nasal cavity) with strong muscle attachment sites, long snout and protruding mandible all suggest that Phiomia was among the first proboscideans to possess a true trunk. Both the upper jaw and mandibles were tusked, with those of the upper jaw being thin, recurved and blade-like, while those of the mandibles were flat, straight and broad.