  amebelodon is a member of a diverse group of primitive proboscideans called gomphotheres, a group that also gave rise to the modern elephants and their close relative the mammoth. the most striking attribute of this animal is its lower tusks, which are narrow, elongated, and distinctly flattened with the degree of flattening varying among the different species. ==taxonomy== thumb|left|a. fricki amebelodon first appeared in the great plains and gulf coast regions of north america during the late miocene, roughly between 9 and 8 million years ago, and apparently became extinct on this continent sometime around 6 million years ago. it managed to migrate to asia via the bering land bridge where it has been found in a number of late miocene sites, particularly in china. the youngest record of amebelodon is from a 5 million year old site in north africa. 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. lambert, w. d., 1996. the biogeography of the gomphotheriidae of north america. in tassy, p. and j. shoshani (eds.), the proboscidea: trends in evolution and paleoecology. oxford university press: oxford, uk.lambert, w. d., and j. shoshani, 1998. the proboscidea. in janis, c., k. m. scott, and l. jacobs (eds.), evolution of tertiary mammals of north america, volume 1. cambridge university press: cambridge, uk. gomphotheres are notoriously difficult to identify with confidence down to the species level because of considerable intraspecific variation in the group, with a result that many named species are probably invalid. however, species that are most likely valid include amebelodon floridanus, amebelodon fricki, amebelodon britti, and amebelodon cyrenaicus. amebelodon varied considerably in size. amebelodon floridanus was smaller than a modern asian elephant, while amebelodon britti reached a shoulder height of 8 to 10 feet at the shoulder and a likely weight of 10 metric tons, similar to the largest mammoths and considerably larger than the living african elephant. ==paleobiology== thumb|left|restoration of an amebelodon herd like other typi
Gomphotheres Mammal_genera Miocene_extinctions Miocene_proboscideans Prehistoric_mammals_of_Africa Prehistoric_mammals_of_Asia Prehistoric_mammals_of_North_America