Zygolophodon

Zygolophodon Temporal range: 17–5.3 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Family:	†Mammutidae
Genus:	†Zygolophodon Vacek 1877
Species
Zygolophodon aegyptensis Sanders and Miller, 2002 Zygolophodon lufengensis Zhang Xingyong 1982 Zygolophodon proavus (Cope, 1873) Zygolophodon turicensis (Schintz, 1824) Zygolophodon tapiroides (Cuvier, 1824)(type)
The inferred range of Zygolophodon
Synonyms
Mastodon tapiroides Mastodon turicensis

Zygolophodon is an extinct genus of African, Asian, North American and European mammutid that lived during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. It may have evolved from Tetralophodon. While collecting fossils in the Clarno Formation of Oregon during 1941, noted paleobotanists Alonzo W. Hancock and Chester A. Arnold recovered the most complete Zygolophodon skull known at the time.

It was one of the largest terrestrial mammals of all time. With a shoulder height of 3.9–4.1 metres (12.8–13.5 ft) and a weight of 14–16 tonnes (15–18 short tons), it approached the size of Paraceratherium, and was heavier than several sauropod dinosaurs.^[1]

Zygolophodon tapiroides tusks excavated in Greece

Zygolophodon skull

References

1. Larramendi, A. (2015). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 60. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014.