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RARE ELDERLY PLIOCENE GOMPHOTHERE JAW WITH ORIGINAL FINAL MOLAR SET PRIOR TO DEATH Suwannee River - Florida, U.S.A. PLIOCENE PERIOD: 5.3 - 1.8 million years ago This is both a VERY rare and uncommon proboscidean fossil. It is the full lower jaw of a Pliocene era Gomphothere Cuvieronius tropicus, a bizarre prehistoric ancestor to the modern day elephant. Such a fossil jaw with its original teeth is rare but what makes this specimen especially interesting is that this is from an elderly Cuvieronius tropicus in its final years of life with its LAST set of molars still in place. This superb specimen presents both, a very impressive display as well as a highly important educational lesson in the life of prehistoric elephantids. The massive molars in the bone are the original teeth and the final set of molars the gomphothere grew prior to death. The alveoli in the bone, anterior to the molars, are from the previous set of molars and can be seen to be in a state of growing closed. The furthest anterior openings in jaw are where the lower tusks emerged. The jaw is not a composite of two different sides from different gomphotheres but is 100% original with only minor repair and restoration. The front of the molars are not broken from handling damage or carelessness when this specimen was initially collected, but from the slow disintegration of the molars as they are worn when the gomphothere was alive. In other words, the teeth are not damaged but are in their final state of natural feeding wear and were exactly as they are now, when this beast perished millions of years ago. Gomphothere fossils are very rare. Even a single molar is a prize find but a full jaw with both original molars is something usually reserved for museum or educational institution collections. Very few specimens like this reside in private ownership making this a definite recommendation and a unique offer to individual collectors. GOMPHOTHERE FOSSILS ARE THE RAREST OF ALL ELEPHANT FOSSILS!!!
Emerging 55 million years ago, the group of mammals called proboscideans are identified by the presence of tusks and a trunk. They comprise three families: Mammutidae, Gomphotheriidae and Elephantidae. The oldest known proboscideans in North America date back to the Miocene. Cuvieronius, the last genus of New World gomphotheres to become extinct, was widely distributed in North, Central, and South America. All elephant species in these regions became extinct 11,000 years ago. Differences in proboscidean tooth anatomy tell us about the types of food they ate. The mastodon was more suited for forest environments with teeth that were well adapted for chewing tougher vegetation like twigs, leaves, shrubs, fruits, pinecones, pine needles and mosses. Gomphotheres likely fed on aquatic vegetation with their complicated, rounded cusp pattern. The mammoth with its smoother teeth, was best suited for the open plains, feeding on a variety of grasses. All proboscideans have a system of horizontal tooth replacement whereby new molars erupt from the rear of the jaw and move forward. The most worn teeth at the front, are pushed out of the jaw. Sometimes while still in the jaw, the anterior portion of a worn front tooth is broken off. These partial teeth are found as fossils along with complete specimens. A baby proboscidean at age 6, will have already had three sets of teeth. By 13 years of age, the fourth set emerges followed by a fifth set at age 27 years. The final set of teeth come in around 43 years of age and as it wears away, the animal eventually starves to death and dies on average between 60 and 80 years of age. Interestingly, the animal's life is limited by the fact that after the sixth set, no new teeth grow in to replace the final worn down set and the animal is no longer able to chew its food. This characteristic is still true of modern elephants. A GOMPHOTHERE FULL JAW WITH BOTH ORIGINAL MOLARS IS SELDOM SEEN IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS - RARE! 16.5" wide x 16" long overall with molars 8.25" and 7.75" in length $6995 LM60-001 Actual Item - One Only |
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Gomphotheres
are strange prehistoric elephants that resembled a Mastodon but with a
set of large lower tusks as well as the upper set of tusks the other
elephants have.
Their grinding teeth, for
example, had many more cusps and more complicated wear patterns than
those of mastodons.
Gomphotheres belong to the
family Gomphotheriidae, a family within the mammal order Proboscidea
that have been
extinct since the Pleistocene Period. Gomphotheres are regarded as the ancestor
to the genus Stegodon as well
as mammoths and both
the present living species of
elephants.
Gomphotheres had both upper and lower incisor tusks.
They are
sometimes nicknamed "shovel tuskers" for this feature.
Unlike the compact
and high domed skull of the mammoths, the skull of gomphotheres was elongate and low.
They seemed well-adapted for a life in lakes and swamps where they
used their tusks to dig or scrape up the vegetation.