Amebelodon

Amebelodon is a genus of extinct proboscidean belonging to Amebelodontidae. The most striking attribute of this animal is its lower tusks, which are narrow, elongated, and distinctly flattened with the degree of flattening varying among the different species. One valid species is known for this genus, which was endemic to North America. Other species once assigned to Amebelodon are now assigned to the genus Konobelodon, which was once a subgenus.

Amebelodon

James St. John · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AmebelodontinaePBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 19 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 23.04 Mya and 4.7 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Oligocene — about 0 of 13 occurrencesMiocene — about 12 of 13 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 13 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences9.4–8.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.7–8.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.1–7.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.4–6.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.8–6.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.1–5.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.5–4.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.8–4.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23.5 Mya4.2 Mya

13 occurrences of Amebelodon on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

13 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Ash Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 40.50°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 41.40°N, 102.40°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WAlachua — 29.40°N, 82.60°WDrewsey — 42.70°N, 118.70°WOgallala — 35.76°N, 99.65°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Amebelodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Amebelodon and its relatives

Miocene

Where Amebelodon and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

144 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 13 sites for Amebelodon, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

10 references

Each of the 13 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Amebelodon

Credit
James St. John
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Amebelodon britti · uf:uf:69997

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAmebelodontinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Barbour 1927