Stegolophodon

Stegolophodon is an extinct genus of stegodontid proboscideans. It lived during the Miocene epoch in Asia. The earliest fossils are known from the Early Miocene, with one of the oldest fossils being from Japan, estimated to be 17.3 million years old. It is suggested to be the ancestor of Stegodon, and transitional fossils between the two genera known from the Late Miocene of Southeast Asia and Yunnan in South China. Like modern elephants, Stegolophodon developed proal jaw movement, where the lower jaw moves in a back-to-front motion, rather than the oblique chewing motion used by earlier proboscideans, with this development already present by 17.3 million years ago. Members of the genus generally have tetralophodont molars, and retain tusks on the lower jaw. The upper tusks have an enamel band.

Stegolophodon

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
StegodontidaePBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Proboscidea
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Proboscidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 12 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 3.55 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 1.8 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 33 occurrencesMiocene — about 25 of 33 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 7 of 33 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 33 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–9.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.5–8.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.7–8.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.0–7.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.2–6.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences6.5–5.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences5.7–5.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences5.0–4.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.3–3.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.5–2.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.8–2.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.0–1.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15.98 Mya3.55 Mya23.5 Mya1.3 Mya

33 occurrences of Stegolophodon 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

33 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

17 formations

Kurosedani — 36.70°N, 137.20°EKurosedani — 36.60°N, 137.33°EKurosedani — 36.58°N, 137.14°EShagou — 25.70°N, 101.87°EIrrawaddy — 19.69°N, 95.30°ETsukinoki — 35.38°N, 134.23°ETsukinoki — 38.06°N, 140.78°EManchar — 26.33°N, 67.83°EVarswater — 32.96°S, 18.11°EBredasdorp & Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ENagrota — 32.70°N, 74.85°EPiram Conglomerate — 21.62°N, 72.38°EMisawa — 34.00°N, 135.00°EHonya — 37.05°N, 140.90°EYoka — 35.54°N, 134.82°EYoshinoya — 37.03°N, 140.93°ESauramachi — 38.33°N, 140.98°ETaniguchi — 36.86°N, 136.99°EAnamizu — 37.39°N, 136.90°EAsawaka — 36.50°N, 140.39°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Stegolophodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Stegolophodon and its relatives

Miocene

Where Stegolophodon and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

266 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 31 sites for Stegolophodon, 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

12 references

Each of the 33 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 content1

Picture of Stegolophodon

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Stegolophodon was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource 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 itStegodontidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Pohlig 1888