Gomphothere

gomphothere, any member of a line of extinct elephants that formed the most numerous group of the order Proboscidea and lived from perhaps as early as the end of the Oligocene Epoch (33.9 million to 23 million years ago) to the late Pleistocene (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) and early Holocene (11,700 years ago to the present) epochs.

Gomphotheres inhabited grasslands, forests, and marshes, with some species evolving highly specialized teeth for grazing and browsing in each environment. Similar to modern elephants, gomphotheres had a trunk, or proboscis, which developed from the nose and upper lip. Some species had elephant-sized trunks, whereas others had shorter, tapirlike snouts. Gomphotheres also possessed tusks (which were modified second incisors extending downward from the upper jaw), and most species also had a second set of two tusks that extended upward from the lower jaw.