Eubelodon morrilli is an extinct genus of a North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n proboscidea

Proboscidea

Proboscidea is a taxonomic order containing one living family, Elephantidae, and several extinct families. This order was first described by J. Illiger in 1881 and encompasses the trunked mammals...

n. This gomphothere

Gomphothere

Gomphotheriidae is a diverse taxonomic family of extinct elephant-like animals , called gomphotheres. They were widespread in North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, 12-1.6 million years ago. Some lived in parts of Eurasia, Beringia and, following the Great American Interchange,...

 had a trunk and tusk

Tusk

Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth, usually but not always in pairs, that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canines, as with warthogs, wild boar, and walruses, or, in the case of elephants and narwhals, elongated incisors...

s. It lived during the Miocene Epoch. It may have evolved from Platybelodon

Platybelodon

Platybelodon was a genus of large herbivorous mammal related to the elephant . It lived during the Miocene Epoch, about 15-4 million years ago, and ranged over Africa, Europe, Asia and North America...

.

Fossil distribution

Fossils are restricted to what is now the Great Plains

Great Plains

The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...

 of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Remains were found in the Poison Ivy Quarry, Antelope

Antelope County, Nebraska

Antelope County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nebraska, and was formed in 1871. As of 2010, the population estimate was 6,685. Its county seat is Neligh...

, Brown County, Nebraska

Brown County, Nebraska

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 3,525 people, 1,530 households, and 996 families residing in the county. The population density was 3 people per square mile . There were 1,916 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile...

, and Tripp County, South Dakota

Tripp County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 6,430 people, 2,550 households, and 1,721 families residing in the county. The population density was 4 people per square mile . There were 3,036 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile...

.

Taxonomy

Eubelodon was named by Erwin Hinckly Barbour

Erwin Hinckly Barbour

Erwin Hinckly Barbour, Ph. D was an American geologist and paleontologist.He was born near Oxford, Ohio, and was educated at Miami University and at Yale, where he graduated in 1882. He was assistant paleontologist to the United States Geological Survey under Othniel Charles Marsh from 1882 to 1888...

 in 1914. It was synonymized subjectively with Trilophodon by Osborn in 1918 and again by Tobien in 1973 with Gomphotherium

Gomphotherium

Gomphotherium is an extinct genus of proboscid which evolved in the Early Miocene of North America from 13.650—3.6 Ma, living about .The genus emigrated into Asia, Europe and Africa after a drop in sea level allowed them to cross over...

It was assigned to Gomphotheriidae by Erwin Barbour in 1914. It was then assigned to Rhynchotheriinae by McKenna and Bell in 1997, Carroll in 1988, Shoshani and Tassy in 1996, Lambert and Shoshani in 1998, and Shoshani and Tassy in 2005.