Phiomia
Phiomia serridens skull in Muséum national d' Histoire naturelle in Paris
- Africa (Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia)
Phiomia is an extinct genus of Proboscidea and, once Moeritherium another step in the evolution of this mammalian order to today's elephants dar. this before about 35 million years ago, living in the Oligocene animal lived as his ancestor lakeshore and river margins and fed on aquatic plants. With about 1.40 meters shoulder height it was slightly larger than Moeritherium and stood up relatively high legs. Maybe the animal already had a significantly trained proboscis, which can be inferred from the large nasal opening and the reduced nose.
The dentition was characterized by the further reduction of the number of teeth and the rebuilding of the molars have a much more modern than the previous proboscidean. However, all teeth were at the same time in function, with which the animal is still the vertical change of teeth and had thus clearly differed from the later proboscidean. The dental formula was:. The molars had a lophodonten tooth structure. Here, the last premolar had two cross bars, while all molars possessed three ( trilophodont ). The incisors were converted into tusks. This Phiomia ever had a tusk per pine bough. Had only a circular cross-section of the alveoli and are progressively narrower towards the top side with an oval cross-section. They showed a clear downward curvature reached a length of sometimes more than 45 cm. The lower tusks were significantly shorter and more straight shape.
Phiomia belongs to the rich fossil vertebrate remains, which were discovered at the Oasis El Fayum in Egypt. The trilophodonte structure of the molars, the tusker genus in the Elephantiformes. She is a Schwesterklade to Palaeomastodon dar. Among the descendants of Phiomia to find the gomphotheres and later the genuine elephant with the mammoth and the elephant species living today. Palaeomastodon evolved into the Real mastodons on.
Today, two types of Phiomia be recognized:
- Phiomia major Sanders, Kappelman & Rasmussen 2004
- Phiomia wintoni Andrews and Beadnell 1902