Tetralophodon

Tetralophodon is an extinct genus of "tetralophodont gomphothere" belonging to the superfamily Elephantoidea, known from the Miocene of Afro-Eurasia. It has been posited to be the ultimate ancestor of Elephantidae.

Tetralophodon

Gary Todd · CC0 · 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
GomphotheriidaePBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Gomphotheriidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Gomphotheriidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 6.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 46 occurrencesMiocene — about 44 of 46 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 46 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 46 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 5 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 6 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 6 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11.63 Mya5.333 Mya23.5 Mya0 Mya

46 occurrences of Tetralophodon 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

46 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

16 formations

Edelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°EPiram Conglomerate — 21.62°N, 72.38°EAntonios — 40.07°N, 23.34°EAntonios — 40.08°N, 23.45°EChorora — 10.67°N, 40.50°E?Beglia — 34.25°N, 8.75°EBeglia — 34.00°N, 8.00°EHsialungtan — 23.71°N, 103.25°EChinji — 32.82°N, 75.37°ESegui — 33.22°N, 1.17°EErgene — 41.20°N, 27.83°EChersonian — 45.34°N, 36.46°EKuyal'nikian — 46.46°N, 30.73°EChersonian — 47.25°N, 28.69°EScheia — 46.58°N, 27.47°EAït Kandoula — 31.06°N, 6.56°WGnilyane — 42.80°N, 23.06°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Tetralophodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 26 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tetralophodon and its relatives

Miocene

Where Tetralophodon and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

523 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 44 sites for Tetralophodon, 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

29 references

Each of the 46 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. 17 further references are not listed. 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 content3

Picture of Tetralophodon

Credit
Gary Todd
Licence
CC0
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
Tetralophodon longirostris · nmb:Ep.167

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itGomphotheriidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Falconer 1857