Mammutidae

Mammutidae is an extinct family of proboscideans belonging to Elephantimorpha. It is best known for the mastodons which inhabited North America from the Late Miocene until their extinction at the beginning of the Holocene around 11,000 years ago. The earliest fossils of the group are known from the Late Oligocene of Africa, around 24 million years ago, and fossils of the group have also been found across Eurasia. The name "mastodon" derives from Ancient Greek μαστός (mastós), meaning "nipple", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth", referring to their characteristic teeth.

Mammutidae

Jayu from Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A. · CC BY-SA 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
Also called
mastodonPBDB
Sits inside
ElephantimorphaPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 729 occurrencesOligocene — about 4 of 729 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 181 of 729 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 84 of 729 occurrencesPleistocene — about 459 of 729 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 7 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 16 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 16 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 19 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 19 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 16 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 16 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 18 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 19 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 15 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 25 occurrences4.6–3.5 Mya — about 32 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 44 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 48 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 400 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

729 occurrences of Mammutidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

729 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

84 formations

Balta Sands — 49.01°N, 27.58°EBalta Sands — 47.97°N, 29.30°EBalta Sands — 48.90°N, 28.41°EBalta Sands — 49.03°N, 28.12°EBalta Sands — 48.48°N, 28.78°EBalta Sands — 48.20°N, 29.70°EPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.00°N, 82.20°WPeace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WTemblor — 36.10°N, 120.40°WTemblor — 35.46°N, 118.92°WTemblor — 35.27°N, 119.31°WAsh Hollow — 41.20°N, 101.80°WAsh Hollow — 43.20°N, 99.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WJuntura — 43.60°N, 117.50°WAlkali Canyon — 45.72°N, 120.20°WAlkali Canyon — 45.84°N, 119.29°WSan Joaquin — 35.90°N, 120.00°WSan Joaquin — 36.10°N, 120.40°WStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.00°EStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.98°ESnake Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WFleming — 30.61°N, 95.13°WFleming — 30.75°N, 95.21°WWood Mountain — 49.20°N, 106.20°WDrewsey — 42.70°N, 118.70°WRexroad — 37.10°N, 100.90°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.63°N, 117.89°WMoghara — 30.38°N, 28.82°EManchar — 26.33°N, 67.83°EPiram Conglomerate — 21.62°N, 72.38°EChhasra — 23.44°N, 70.99°EDeep River — 46.00°N, 111.00°WPawnee Creek — 40.80°N, 104.20°WOgallala — 36.70°N, 101.40°W

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The named rock units Mammutidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 60 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 603 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mammutidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Mammutidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,056 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 703 sites for Mammutidae, and this reads 240 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

260 references

Each of the 729 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. 248 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 content1

Picture of Mammutidae

Credit
Jayu from Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Mammutidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itElephantimorpha through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hay 1922