Platybelodon

Platybelodon (possibly "shovel tooth", or "flat tusk") is an extinct genus of amebelodontid proboscidean mammal, distantly related to modern-day elephants. Fossils are known from middle Miocene strata from parts of Asia and the Caucasus. The first specimens of Platybelodon, consisting of a partial skull, a nearly complete lower jaw, and multiple disarticulated remains, were discovered in the Tchokrak beds of north Caucasus, in the summer of 1927. The following year, Russian palaeontologist Alexey Borissiak described the remains, giving them the name Platybelodon danovi (now the type species of the genus). Several additional species have been described, including Platybelodon grangeri, named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1928. Platybelodon is best known for its elongated, spoon-shaped lower jaw. While its upper incisors formed a pair of long, slender tusks (which were larger in males), the lower incisors instead formed flat, broad tusks, as in other amebelodontids. While initially suggested to be an adaptation for feeding on water plants, tooth wear patterns suggest that Platybelodon instead used its lower tusks to remove bark from trees and for cutting vegetation. Similarly, while originally believed to lack a trunk and to instead have a large upper lip similar to that of a hippopotamus, Platybelodon had a fairly large trunk which was likely used to grasp tree branches and other vegetation. While bones from the postcranial skeleton are rare, limb elements suggest that Platybelodon was more lightly built and possibly more agile than many other proboscideans.