Subfamily †Platybelodontinae Phylum Chordata Rank Genus | Scientific name Platybelodon Higher classification Gomphothere | |
 | ||
Similar Gomphotherium, Mammal, Amebelodon, Proboscidea, Deinotherium | ||
Platybelodon
Platybelodon ("flat-spear tusk") was a genus of large herbivorous mammal related to the elephant (order Proboscidea). It lived during the late Miocene Epoch in Asia and the Caucasus.
Contents
Description
Platybelodon was very similar to Amebelodon, another, closely related gomphothere genus. Due to the shape of the two lower teeth, in common with many gomphothere genera (such as Platybelodon, Archaeobelodon, Konobelodon, and Amebelodon), they are popularly known as "shovel tuskers."
Palaeobiology
Platybelodon was previously believed to have fed in the swampy areas of grassy savannas, using its teeth to shovel up aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation. However, wear patterns on the teeth suggest that it used its lower tusks to strip bark from trees, and may have used the sharp incisors that formed the edge of the "shovel" more like a modern-day scythe, grasping branches with its trunk and rubbing them against the lower teeth to cut it from a tree. Adult animals in particular might have eaten coarser vegetation more frequently than juveniles.
