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Konobelodon

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Konobelodon
Temporal range: Miocene, 15–5.3 Ma
Mandible of Konobelodon britti on display at the State Museum of Pennsylvania
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: †Amebelodontidae
Genus: †Konobelodon
Lambert, 1990
Species
  • K. atticus (Wagner, 1857)
  • K. britti (Lambert, 1990) (type)
  • K. robustus Wang, Shi, He, Chen, and Yang, 2016[1]

Konobelodon is a genus of amebelodont from southern Europe, China, and North America.

Taxonomy

Restoration of K. britti

Konobelodon was originally coined as a subgenus of Amebelodon,[2] and was subsequently elevated to full generic rank in a 2014 re-appraisal of "Mastodon" atticus.[3] Within Amebelodontinae, Konobelodon is closely related to Platybelodon and Torynobelodon.[1] The genus Konobelodon likely originated in eastern Eurasia, with K. robustus being known from the Liushu Formation in the Gansu Province of China,[4] and it diverged via separate migrations westward into Europe and western Asia, represented by K. atticus, and eastward into North America, where the genus arrived c. 7 Ma and survived until the very end of the Miocene.[3]

Description

As shovel-tusked amebelodonts, Konobelodon has two pairs of tusks, one growing from the upper and jaw and a second from the lower. K. robustus is estimated to have had a body mass between 2802 and 7367 kg, making it generally larger than gomphotheres on account of its thicker limb bones. Its standing posture, however, was not likely as column-like as that of extant elephants and American brevirostrine gomphotheres.[4]

Cultural significance

Possible influence on Greek myths

Konobelodon is among the fossil proboscideans represented in the Miocene-age deposits on the Greek island of Samos, alongside Deinotherium and Choerolophodon.[5] Adrienne Mayor and Nikos Solounias have speculated that these taxa may have influenced local legends of the island's deep history, serving as inspiration for gigantic mythical monsters called Neades, creatures whose voices were believed to cause earthquakes. Mayor and Solounias base their speculation on the fact that the fossils on Samos are found near a major fault zone, suggesting that ancient Greeks may have interpreted the presence of their skeletal remains as being associated with past seismic activity in the region.[6] Ancient sources attest that the bones of these creatures were put on display and that their stories inspired local expressions such as "They shout louder than the Neades!"[7]

Mayor and Solounias also suggest that these fossils may have inspired another story of the god Dionysus waging war with the Amazons on Samos, drawing similar comparisons between the island's geology and a description by Plutarch of this mythic fight. In this story, their skeletal remains are interpreted as belonging to the victims of this ancient war, who like the Neades were able to rend the earth when they cried out in death.[6] They argue that ancient residents of Samos were aware of both the island's fossil record and its geology, and that these stories were early attempts to make sense of the two.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Wang, S.; SHI, Q.; HE, W.; Chen, S.; Yang, X. (2016). "— A new species of the tetralophodont amebelodontine Konobelodon Lambert, 1990 (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene of China". Geodiversitas. 38 (1): 65–97. doi:10.5252/g2016n1a4. S2CID 87203029.
  2. ^ Lambert, W. D. (1990). "Rediagnosis of the genus Amebelodon (Mammalia, Proboscidea, Gomphotheriidae) with a new subgenus and species, Amebelodon (Konobelodon) britti". Journal of Paleontology. 64 (6): 1032–1041. doi:10.1017/S0022336000019855.
  3. ^ a b Konidaris, G. E.; Roussiakis, S. J.; Theodorou, G. E.; Koufos, G. D. (2014). "The Eurasian occurrence of the shovel-tusker Konobelodon (Mammalia, Proboscidea) as illuminated by its presence in the late Miocene of Pikermi (Greece)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 34 (6): 1437–53. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.873622. S2CID 84396676.
  4. ^ a b Wang, ShiQi; Shi, QinQin; He, Wen; Chen, ShanQin; Yang, XiangWen (2016-03-25). "A new species of the tetralophodont amebelodontine Konobelodon Lambert, 1990 (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene of China". Geodiversitas. 38 (1): 65–97. doi:10.5252/g2016n1a4. ISSN 1280-9659.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  5. ^ Konidaris, George E.; Koufos, George D. (2019-03-01). "Late Miocene proboscideans from Samos Island (Greece) revisited: new specimens from old collections". PalZ. 93 (1): 115–134. doi:10.1007/s12542-018-0432-6. ISSN 1867-6812.
  6. ^ a b Solounias, Nikos; Ring, Uwe (2007). "Samos Island, Part II: Ancient history of the Samos fossils and the record of earthquakes". Journal of the Virtual Explorer. 27. doi:10.3809/jvirtex.2007.00179. ISSN 1441-8142.
  7. ^ Aelian, De Natura Animalium, 17.28.
  8. ^ Adrienne., Mayor, (2011). The First Fossil Hunters : Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-3844-8. OCLC 910018702.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)


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