Gomphotheres originated in Africa during the Miocene, and arrived in Eurasia after the connection of Africa and Eurasia during the Early Miocene around 19 million years ago, in what is termed the " Proboscidean Datum Event". The relationships of gomphotheres to other proboscideans remain unclear, and to some extent the grouping is a wastebasket taxon to refer to proboscideans that cannot be assigned to other groups.
MASTODONTE WITH FOUR TUSKS PLUS
The name "gomphothere" comes from Ancient Greek γόμφος ( gómphos), "peg, pin wedge joint" plus θηρίον ( theríon), "beast". By the end of the Early Pleistocene, gomphotheres became extinct in Afro-Eurasia, with the last two genera, Cuvieronius persisting in southern North America and Notiomastodon having a wide range over most of South America until the end of the Pleistocene. While most famous forms such as Gomphotherium had long lower jaws with tusks, which is the ancestral condition for the group, after these forms became extinct, the surviving gomphotheres had short jaws with either vestigial or no lower tusks (brevirostrine), looking very similar to modern elephants, an example of parallel evolution. Gomphotheriidae in its broadest sense is probably paraphyletic with respect to Elephantidae, which contains modern elephants. They were widespread across Afro-Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs and dispersed into South America during the Pleistocene following the Great American Interchange. Gomphotheres were elephant-like proboscideans, but do not belong to the family Elephantidae.
Gomphotheres are any members of the diverse, extinct taxonomic family Gomphotheriidae. † Gnathabelodon Barbour & Sternberg, 1935.Notiomastodon platensis Centro Cultural del Bicentenario de Santiago del Estero in Argentina Specimen of Gomphotherium productum at the AMNH
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