Elephantimorpha

{{Short description|Clade of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Elephantimorphs

| image = AMNH Mastodon.jpg

| image_caption = Skeleton of the American mastodon Mammut americanum (Mammutidae)

| image2 = Hohhot.inner_mongolia_museum.Platybelodon_grangeri.2.jpg

| image2_caption = Skeleton of the "shovel tusker" Platybelodon (Amebelodontidae)

| taxon = Elephantimorpha

| fossil_range =

| oldest_fossil = Oligocene

| authority = Tassy & Shoshani, 1997

| subdivision_ranks = Subgroups

| subdivision = *{{extinct}}Mammutidae

• Elephantida Tassy and Shoshani, 1997
• {{extinct}}Eritreum
• {{extinct}} Amebelodontidae
• {{extinct}} Choerolophodontidae
• {{extinct}} "Gomphotheriidae" (paraphyletic)
• Elephantoidea Gray, 1821
• "Tetralophodont gomphotheres"
• {{extinct}}Anancus
• {{extinct}}Paratetralophodon
• {{extinct}}Pediolophodon
• {{extinct}}Tetralophodon
• {{extinct}}Stegodontidae
• Elephantidae

}}Elephantimorpha is a clade of proboscideans that contains the Mammutidae (mastodons), as well as Elephantida (amebelodonts, choerolophodonts, gomphotheres, stegodontids and elephantids). All members of Elephantimorpha have the horizontal tooth replacement typical of modern elephants, where the cheek teeth progressively migrate forwards in the jaw like a conveyor belt. This a distinctive characteristic of this group (synapomorphy) and is not found in more primitive non-elephantimorph Elephantiformes.{{Cite journal |last=Sanders |first=William J. |date=2018-02-17 |title=Horizontal tooth displacement and premolar occurrence in elephants and other elephantiform proboscideans |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2017.1297436 |journal=Historical Biology |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1–2 |pages=137–156 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2017.1297436 |bibcode=2018HBio...30..137S |issn=0891-2963|url-access=subscription }} Members of Elephantida are distinguished from mammutids by the reduced angular process of the lower jaw.{{Cite journal |last=Shoshani |first=Jeheskel |last2=Walter |first2=Robert C. |last3=Abraha |first3=Michael |last4=Berhe |first4=Seife |last5=Tassy |first5=Pascal |last6=Sanders |first6=William J. |last7=Marchant |first7=Gary H. |last8=Libsekal |first8=Yosief |last9=Ghirmai |first9=Tesfalidet |last10=Zinner |first10=Dietmar |date=2006-11-14 |title=A proboscidean from the late Oligocene of Eritrea, a “missing link” between early Elephantiformes and Elephantimorpha, and biogeographic implications |url=https://pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0603689103 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=103 |issue=46 |pages=17296–17301 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0603689103 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=1859925 |pmid=17085582}} Like modern elephants, the ancestor of Elephantimorpha was likely capable of communicating via infrasonic calls.{{Citation |last1=Benoit |first1=Julien |title=Paleoneurology of the Proboscidea (Mammalia, Afrotheria): Insights from Their Brain Endocast and Labyrinth |date=2023 |work=Paleoneurology of Amniotes |pages=579–644 |editor-last=Dozo |editor-first=María Teresa |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-031-13983-3_15 |access-date=2024-04-19 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-13983-3_15 |isbn=978-3-031-13982-6 |last2=Lyras |first2=George A. |last3=Schmitt |first3=Arnaud |last4=Nxumalo |first4=Mpilo |last5=Tabuce |first5=Rodolphe |last6=Obada |first6=Teodor |last7=Mararsecul |first7=Vladislav |last8=Manger |first8=Paul |editor2-last=Paulina-Carabajal |editor2-first=Ariana |editor3-last=Macrini |editor3-first=Thomas E. |editor4-last=Walsh |editor4-first=Stig|url-access=subscription }} While early elephantimorphs generally had lower jaws where the fused front part (the mandibular symphysis) was greatly elongated with well developed lower tusks/incisors, from the Late Miocene onwards, many groups convergently developed brevirostrine (shortened) lower jaws with vestigial or no lower tusks,{{cite journal |last1=Mothé |first1=Dimila |last2=Ferretti |first2=Marco P. |last3=Avilla |first3=Leonardo S. |date=12 January 2016 |title=The Dance of Tusks: Rediscovery of Lower Incisors in the Pan-American Proboscidean Cuvieronius hyodon Revises Incisor Evolution in Elephantimorpha |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=e0147009 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1147009M |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0147009 |pmc=4710528 |pmid=26756209 |doi-access=free}} probably corresponding with the elongation and increasingly dexterity of the trunk allowing it to be used as the primary feeding organ. The closest relatives of modern elephants within Elephantida, typically including Stegodontidae and the "tetralophodont gomphotheres" are placed as part of the clade Elephantoidea,{{Cite journal |last=Shoshani |first=Jeheskel |last2=Tassy |first2=Pascal |date=January 2005 |title=Advances in proboscidean taxonomy & classification, anatomy & physiology, and ecology & behavior |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618204000734 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=126-128 |pages=5–20 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2004.04.011|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Baleka |first=Sina |last2=Varela |first2=Luciano |last3=Tambusso |first3=P. Sebastián |last4=Paijmans |first4=Johanna L. A. |last5=Mothé |first5=Dimila |last6=Stafford |first6=Thomas W. |last7=Fariña |first7=Richard A. |last8=Hofreiter |first8=Michael |date=2022-01-21 |title=Revisiting proboscidean phylogeny and evolution through total evidence and palaeogenetic analyses including Notiomastodon ancient DNA |url=https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(21)01529-7 |journal=iScience |language=English |volume=25 |issue=1 |doi=10.1016/j.isci.2021.103559 |issn=2589-0042 |pmid=34988402|pmc=8693454 }} though this clade has also been used historically as equivalent in scope to Elephantimorpha or Elephantida.{{Cite journal |last=Antoine |first=Pierre-Olivier |last2=Welcomme |first2=Jean-Loup |last3=Marivaux |first3=Laurent |last4=Baloch |first4=Ibrahim |last5=Benammi |first5=Mouloud |last6=Tassy |first6=Pascal |date=2003-12-24 |title=First record of Paleogene Elephantoidea (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the Bugti Hills of Pakistan |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1671/2453-25 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=977–980 |doi=10.1671/2453-25 |issn=0272-4634 |quote=The use of the taxon Elephantoidea Gray, 1821, of superfamilial rank,follows Tassy (1988). It is the clade formed by mammutids, gomphotheres sensu lato, and elephantids including stegodonts (see also Shoshani and Tassy, 1996). McKenna and Bell (1997) excluded mammutids fromthe Elephantoidea.|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Todd |first=Nancy E. |date=January 2010 |title=New Phylogenetic Analysis of the Family Elephantidae Based on Cranial‐Dental Morphology |url=https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.21010 |journal=The Anatomical Record |language=en |volume=293 |issue=1 |pages=74–90 |doi=10.1002/ar.21010 |issn=1932-8486 |quote=the Elephantoidea defined as including the Mammutidae, Ambelodontidae, "gomphotheres", Choerolophodon, Stegodontidae, and the Elephantidae}}