The relationships of gomphotheres to other proboscideans remain unclear, and to some extent the grouping is a wastebasket taxon to refer to proboscideans that cannot be assigned to other groups. Gomphotheres originated in Africa during the Miocene, and arrived in Eurasia after the connection of Africa and Eurasia during the Early Miocene around 19 million years ago, in what is termed the "Proboscidean Datum Event". "Gomphotherium" arrived in North America around 16 million years ago. "Notiomastodon" and "Cuvieronius" dispersed into South America after 2 million years ago as part of the Great American Biotic Interchange due to the formation of the Ismuthus of Panama. The last known gomphothere native to Eurasia was "Sinomastodon", which became extinct at the end of the Early Pleistocene.