Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
242 / Cenozoic
Platybelodon
Platybelodon grangeri
A widened jaw and flattened lower tusks formed a shovel-like cutting edge for tough vegetation.
View original image · 1536 × 1024- Time range
- About 15–11 million years ago
- Final stage
- Middle Miocene
- Geographic range
- River valleys, grassland and woodland · Asia
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Platybelodon?
Platybelodon (Platybelodon grangeri) was an extinct organism known from About 15–11 million years ago, with a range in River valleys, grassland and woodland · Asia.
Life and ecology
Platybelodon did not simply dig mud with its jaw; dental wear suggests it used trunk and tusks together to cut branches, bark or wetland plants.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Platybelodon disappear?
Later Miocene drying and more open vegetation altered its food supply as other proboscideans spread; this is likely context rather than proof of direct replacement.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Platybelodon?
Skulls, jaws and tusk microwear show repeated transverse cutting, correcting older digging reconstructions.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS