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Amebelodontidae

Amebelodont
Temporal range: 16–2.5 Ma
Miocene - Pliocene
WPHubeiPlatybeladon.jpg
Platybelodon skeleton in a Hubei, China, museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Amebelodontidae
Barbour, 1927
Genera

Amebelodontidae is an extinct family of large herbivorous mammals that were closely related to elephants. They were assigned to Gomphotheriidae in the past, but recent authors consider them a distinct family.

Amebelodonts' feeding habits are portrayed as scooping up water plants due to their mandibular tusks which have a shovel-like shape. However, this is a misconception because the upper tusks are never taken into consideration. The wear pattern on the mandibular tusks of Platybelodon grangeri and P. barnumbrowni indicate that these taxa used their tusks to cut through vegetation in a specialized way.




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Wikipedia

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