Prodeinotherium

Prodeinotherium is an extinct representative of the family Deinotheriidae that lived in Africa, Europe, and Asia in the early and middle Miocene. Prodeinotherium was first named in 1930, meaning "before terrible beast", but soon after the only species in it, P. hungaricum, was reassigned to Deinotherium. During the 1970s however, the two genera were once again separated, with Prodeinotherium diagnosed to include Deinotherium bavaricum (=P. hungaricum), Deinotherium hobleyi, and Deinotherium pentapotamiae, which were separated based on geographic location. The three species are from Europe, Africa, and Asia respectively. However, because of usage of few characters to separate them, there may have been only one species, P. bavaricum, or many more species, including P. cuvieri, P. orlovii, and P. sinense.
Prodeinotherium is one of three genera of Deinotheriidae, the others being Chilgatherium from Africa, and Deinotherium from Europe, Africa and Asia. Chilgatherium preceded Prodeinotherium, while Deinotherium succeeded it. P. hobleyi was the first species of Prodeinotherium, and it migrated into Asia and Europe before evolving into P. pentapotamiae and then P. bavaricum. Prodeinotherium lived for the Early Miocene and Middle Miocene before being replaced by Deinotherium. The deinotheriids are an early branch of proboscideans, although more derived than Barytherium and Moeritherium.
All deinotheres were large animals that evolved to be even larger, and many features are shared throughout the group. Prodeinotherium and Deinotherium both had large downcurved tusks on the lower jaw, but none on the upper jaw. They may have had a tapir-like snout, muscular but not as long as an elephant's trunk. This could have been used to grasp food while the tusks moved branches out of the way. Prodeinotherium was slightly smaller than Deinotherium, yet much larger than more primitive proboscideans. All Prodeinotherium species were similar in size, ranging from 2.5 to 2.8 m (8.2 to 9.2 ft) tall and weighing about 3.1 to 4.3 t (490 to 680 st).
Category:Animals
Category:Creatures