Haplomastodon
Encyclopedia
Haplomastodon is an extinct genus of 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...

 endemic to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 during the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

 from 1.810 Ma—11,000 years ago, living for approximately .

It had two tusks on either side of a trunk like other members of Gomphotheriidae. Its apparent range was from Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 southward to Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 where fossils were recovered in the Suelo Formation, a quarry dig in Corrientes Province
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...

. It may have shared its habit with Notiomastodon
Notiomastodon
Notiomastodon is an extinct genus of proboscidea endemic to South America during the Pleistocene from 1.810 Ma—780,000 years ago, living for approximately ....

based on genus age and geography.

Taxonomy

Haplomastodon was named by Hoffstetter (1950). It was assigned to Gomphotheriidae by Carroll (1988).
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