Platybelodon

Platybelodon; Temporal range: Miocene, 15–10 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Platybelodon grangeri skeleton, Inner Mongolia Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Family:	†Amebelodontidae
Subfamily:	†Platybelodontinae
Genus:	†Platybelodon; Borissiak, 1928
Type species
	†Platybelodon danovi; Borissiak, 1928
Species
	P. grangeri Osborn, 1929; P. beliajevae Alexeeva, 1971; P. tongxinensis Chen, 1978; P. tetralophus Wang and Li, 2022;

Platybelodon (possibly "shovel tooth")^[1] is an extinct genus of amebelodontid proboscidean mammal, distantly related to modern-day elephants. Fossils are known from middle Miocene strata from parts of Asia and the Caucasus. The first specimens of Platybelodon, consisting of a partial skull, a nearly complete lower jaw, and multiple disarticulated remains, were discovered in the Tchokrak beds of north Caucasus, in the summer of 1927. The following year, Russian palaeontologist Alexey Borissiak described them, giving them the name Platybelodon danovi (now the type species of the genus). Several additional species have been described, including Platybelodon grangeri, named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1928.

Taxonomy

Early years

In the summer of 1927, the remains of a proboscidean were recovered from the Miocene-age Tchokrak beds of the Kuban region (north Caucasus). The remains recovered were fragmentary, consisting of a partial skull and a nearly complete mandible (lower jaw) in one specimen, and a few disarticulated teeth and bones of others.^[2] On April 4, 1928, Russian palaeontologist Alexey Borissiak briefly described the remains, assigning to them the binomial name Platybelodon danovi.^[3] A year after his initial description, Borissiak, he published a more detailed diagnosis of the relevant specimens. Borissiak believed that P. danovi, represented a new branch of mastodont taxonomy, though did not provide a name for that branch.^[2]

On July 28, 1928, during the Central Asiatic Expeditions to Mongolia, Roy Chapman Andrews and Walter W. Granger came upon a series of mandibles and teeth in the Tung Gur locality (now the Tunggur Formation). The following year, Henry Fairfield Osborn assigned them to Platybelodon, assigning to them the name Platybelodon grangeri, after Granger. AMNH 26202, the partial mandible of an adult, was designated as the type specimen.^[4]

Additional species

In 1971, L. I. Alexeeva described a third species of Platybelodon, P. beliajevae, based on several molars recovered from the Oshi locality in western Mongolia.^[5] A fourth species, P. tongxinensis, was described in 1978 by G. F. Chen, based on two molars from the Zhangenbao Formation in Tongxin County, China.^[6]^[7] While briefly synonymised with P. danovi,^[8] a 2022 paper by Shiqi Wang and Chun-Xiao Li reaffirmed its validity and attributed specimens formerly assigned to Gomphotherium to it. A fifth Platybelodon species, P. tetralophus, was named in the same paper, based on a partial mandible. Multiple specimens known from the Platybelodon Quarry of the Tunggur Formation, and some in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History from the Wolf Camp Quarry, were assigned to P. tetralophus.^[7]

Etymology

The full etymology of Platybelodon is obscure. In a paper attempting to translate the generic names of various extinct proboscideans into Chinese, Shi-Qi Wang, Chun-Xiao Li, and Xiao-Xiao Zhang divided the genus name into the Greek platy ("wide"), bel (presumably "shovel", which they supposed was in reference to the shape of its incisors), and don ("tooth"). They suggested that the name in full may translate to "shovel tooth", "broad tooth", or "plate tooth".^[1]

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.^[9] Adults in particular might have eaten coarser vegetation more frequently than juveniles.^[10]

Ontogenetic growth series (from fetus to adult)

Images

P. grangeri reconstruction with size comparison.
Life reconstruction of P. grangeri.
P. grangeri skull.
P. grangeri molar.
P. danovi skull, National Natural History Museum of China
Outdated 1932 restoration of P. grangeri as a swamp-dweller.

References

^ ^a ^b Wang, Shi-Qi; Li, Chun-Xiao; Zhang, Xiao-Xiao (2021). "On the scientific names of mastodont taxa: nomenclature, Chinese translation, and taxonomic problems". Vertebrata Palasiatica. 59 (4): 295–332.
^ ^a ^b Borissiak, Alexey (1929). "On a new direction in the adaptive radiation of mastodonts" (PDF). Palaeobiologica. 2: 19–33.
^ Borissiak, Alexey (1928). "On a new Mastodon from the Chokrak beds (Middle Miocene) of the Kuban region, Platybelodon danovi n. gen. n. sp". Ann. Soc. Paleont. Russie, Tom: 105–120.
^ Granger, Walter; Osborn, Henry Fairfield (1931). "The shovel-tuskers, Amebelodontinae, of Central Asia. American Museum novitates ; no. 470". Biodiversity Heritage Library. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
^ Alexeeva, L. I. (1971). "On a mastodon from Oshi locality (Western Mongolia)". Mesozoic and Cenozoic fauna of western Mongolia (in Russian). 3: 71–76.
^ Chen, G. -F. (1978). "Mastodont remains from the Miocene of Zhongning-Tongxin area in Ningxia". Vertebrata PalAsiatica (in Chinese (China)). 16: 103–110.
^ ^a ^b Wang, Shiqi; Li, Chun-Xiao (2022). "Attributing "Gomphotherium shensiense" to Platybelodon tongxinensis, and a new species of Platybelodon from the latest Middle Miocene". Vertebrata PalAsiatica. doi:10.19615/j.cnki.2096-9899.220402.
^ Qi, Z. X.; Wu, W. Y.; Qiu, Z. D. (1999). "Miocene mammal faunal sequence of China: Palaeozoogeography and Eurasian relationships". In Rössner, G. E.; Heissig, K. (eds.). The Miocene Land Mammals of Europe. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München. pp. 443–455.
^ Lambert, W.D (1992). "The feeding habits of the shovel-tusked gomphotheres: evidence from tusk wear patterns". Paleobiology. 18 (2): 132–147. Bibcode:1992Pbio...18..132L. doi:10.1017/S0094837300013932. JSTOR 2400995. S2CID 87230816.
^ Semprebon, Gina; Tao, Deng; Hasjanova, Jelena; Solounias, Nikos (2016). "An examination of the dietary habits of Platybelodon grangeri from the Linxia Basin of China: Evidence from dental microwear of molar teeth and tusks". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 457: 109–116. Bibcode:2016PPP...457..109S. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.06.012.

External links

[:1-1] Wang, Shi-Qi; Li, Chun-Xiao; Zhang, Xiao-Xiao (2021). "On the scientific names of mastodont taxa: nomenclature, Chinese translation, and taxonomic problems". Vertebrata Palasiatica. 59 (4): 295–332.

[:0-2] Borissiak, Alexey (1929). "On a new direction in the adaptive radiation of mastodonts" (PDF). Palaeobiologica. 2: 19–33.

[3] Borissiak, Alexey (1928). "On a new Mastodon from the Chokrak beds (Middle Miocene) of the Kuban region, Platybelodon danovi n. gen. n. sp". Ann. Soc. Paleont. Russie, Tom: 105–120.

[4] Granger, Walter; Osborn, Henry Fairfield (1931). "The shovel-tuskers, Amebelodontinae, of Central Asia. American Museum novitates ; no. 470". Biodiversity Heritage Library. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

[5] Alexeeva, L. I. (1971). "On a mastodon from Oshi locality (Western Mongolia)". Mesozoic and Cenozoic fauna of western Mongolia (in Russian). 3: 71–76.

[6] Chen, G. -F. (1978). "Mastodont remains from the Miocene of Zhongning-Tongxin area in Ningxia". Vertebrata PalAsiatica (in Chinese (China)). 16: 103–110.

[:2-7] Wang, Shiqi; Li, Chun-Xiao (2022). "Attributing "Gomphotherium shensiense" to Platybelodon tongxinensis, and a new species of Platybelodon from the latest Middle Miocene". Vertebrata PalAsiatica. doi:10.19615/j.cnki.2096-9899.220402.

[8] Qi, Z. X.; Wu, W. Y.; Qiu, Z. D. (1999). "Miocene mammal faunal sequence of China: Palaeozoogeography and Eurasian relationships". In Rössner, G. E.; Heissig, K. (eds.). The Miocene Land Mammals of Europe. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München. pp. 443–455.

[lambert1992-9] Lambert, W.D (1992). "The feeding habits of the shovel-tusked gomphotheres: evidence from tusk wear patterns". Paleobiology. 18 (2): 132–147. Bibcode:1992Pbio...18..132L. doi:10.1017/S0094837300013932. JSTOR 2400995. S2CID 87230816.

[10] Semprebon, Gina; Tao, Deng; Hasjanova, Jelena; Solounias, Nikos (2016). "An examination of the dietary habits of Platybelodon grangeri from the Linxia Basin of China: Evidence from dental microwear of molar teeth and tusks". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 457: 109–116. Bibcode:2016PPP...457..109S. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.06.012.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]