Sinomammut Temporal range: Miocene, 12–11 Ma |
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Mandible photograph and interpretive drawing. | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Proboscidea |
Family: | †Mammutidae |
Genus: | †Sinomammut |
Species: | †S. tobieni |
Binomial name | |
Sinomammut tobieni Mothé, 2016 |
Sinomammut (meaning "Chinese Mastodon") is a proboscidean found in the Miocene of China. It was known from a single, fragmentary, mandible found in the 1990s. However, most of the specimen has been lost, leaving only the right ramus and an in-situ photograph of the mandible. The mandible was originally thought a gompothere closely related to Sinomastodon, but an analysis revealed it to actually be a mammutid that was a sister group to the well-known Mastodon. It can be distinguished from the mastodon by its lack of lower tusks.