Tetralophodon
Sign in to saveTetralophodon (from Ancient Greek τετρα- (tetra-), meaning "four", λόφος (lóphos), meaning "ridge", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth") is an extinct genus of "tetralophodont gomphothere" belonging to the superfamily Elephantoidea, known from the Miocene of Afro-Eurasia. It has been posited to be the ultimate ancestor of Elephantidae.
Wikidata facts
- Parent taxon
- Elephantoidea
- Image
- Fossils - Museu Geològic del Seminari de Barcelona 43.JPG
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- taxon name
- Tetralophodon
- taxon rank
- genus
- Commons category
- Tetralophodon
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Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy and evolution
- Description
- Distribution
- Ecology
- References
Tetralophodon (from Ancient Greek τετρα- (tetra-), meaning "four", λόφος (lóphos), meaning "ridge", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth") is an extinct genus of "tetralophodont gomphothere" belonging to the superfamily Elephantoidea, known from the Miocene of Afro-Eurasia. It has been posited to be the ultimate ancestor of Elephantidae.
==Taxonomy and evolution== The type species of Tetralophodon, T. longirostris, was originally named as Mastodon longirostris by Johann Jakob Kaup in 1832, based on remains including a partial mandible (lower jaw) with teeth collected from the vicinity of Eppelsheim in Germany. The genus Tetralophodon was later named in 1857 by Hugh Falconer.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tetralophodon” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.