SUPERB "SHOVEL-TUSK" PREHISTORIC PLATYBELODON GOMPHOTHERE MOLAR

Description

SUPERB "SHOVEL-TUSK" PREHISTORIC PLATYBELODON GOMPHOTHERE MOLAR WITH COMPLETE ROOTS AND FULLY EXPOSED CUSPS
I purchased this molar at the Tucson Gem Show in 1999.   It's an excellent example of a Platybelodon Gomp molar.  I was told it came from a large fossil collection purchased in the late 1960s.  These don't come up for sale in the North American market very often.
Class Mammalia, Order Proboscidea, Family Gomphotheriidae, Tribe Amebelodontini
Geological Time: Miocene
Fossil Site: Ganshu Province, Northwestern China
Info: This tooth comes from an elephant-like mammal colloquially termed a “shovel-tiusked” or shovel-jawed mastodon”. It is not a true mastodon, but a gomphothere. The lower tusks were flattened and extended out like large shovels. It was once thought to have used its shovel jaw to scoop of aquatic plants in marshes, but wear to the molars has led other researchers to postulate that it fed on bark and foliage that it sheared off of trees and shrubs.
4.5” long x 4” tall x 2.75” wide
Good luck!