Deinotheriidae
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Deinotheriidae ("terrible beasts") is a family of prehistoric elephant-like proboscideans that lived during the Tertiary period, first appearing in Africa, then spreading across southern Asia (Indo-Pakistan) and Europe. During that time they changed very little, apart from growing much larger in size - by the late Miocene they had become the largest land animals of their time. Their most distinctive feature was the downward curving tusks on the lower jaw.
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Deinotherium
| phylum | Chordata | Deinotherium is the type genus of the family Deinotheriidae, which evolved from the smaller, early Miocene Prodeinotherium. These proboscideans represent a totally distinct line of evolutionary descent to that of other elephants, one that probably diverged very early in the history of the group as a whole.
For more information, please visit the Wikipedia Entry Get back to Proboscidea |
| class | Mammalia | |
| infraclass | Eutheria | |
| order | Proboscidea | |
| family | †Deinotheriidae | |
| genus | †Deinotherium | |
| temporal range | middle Miocene Early Pleistocene |
