Құрып кеткен Продейнотерий тұқымдасы

Extinct genus of proboscideans

Prodeinotherium is an extinct representative of the family Deinotheriidae that lived in Africa, Europe, and Asia in the early and middle Miocene. Prodeinotherium, meaning "before terrible beast", was first named in 1930, 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, only one species, P. bavaricum, or many more species, including P. cuvieri, P. orlovii, and P. sinense may be possible. Prodeinotherium is one of three genera of the 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. 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 tall and weighing about .

Prodeinotherium was the size of the present Asian elephant, about at the shoulders, but differing from elephants by lacking upper tusks and instead possessing downward facing lower tusks. In appearance and many characters, it was like Deinotherium, but differed in being of smaller size, having shorter fore limbs, and also in various details in the shape and form of the teeth. A potentially adult female specimen of P. bavaricum is estimated to be tall and weigh , while an adult male measured tall and was about The earliest species P. hobleyi was estimated at similar tall and Prodeinotherium hobleyi was larger and more specialised than its Oligocene predecessor Chilgatherium. It flourished for several millions of years, before being replaced in the middle Miocene by the much larger Deinotherium. Deinotheres such as Prodeinotherium have a muscle attachment for a trunk like structure. However, instead of an elephant like trunk, the appendage was more muscular and similar to a tapirs snout. Within the evolution of Deinotheriidae, the paired "tongs" arrangement consisting of upper and lower incisors possessed by earlier Proboscideans was lost.

Prodeinotherium lived during the Early Miocene and Middle Miocene, about 19.0 to 18.0 million years ago (Mya). Prodeinotherium likely evolved from Chilgatherium, or the common ancestor of the two genera. Deinotheres are quite controversial with regards to the systematics. Many species have been named, yet major studies by Harris and Huttunen find that only three species in each genus are valid, based on distribution and smaller details. Within Prodeinotherium, the species found valid by these authors include P. bavaricum, P. pentapotamiae, and P. hobleyi. Many descriptions of new species of deinotheres are based upon limited material compared to only a small number of the species. Thus, many species of deinotheres are no longer valid. P. sinense,

Deinotherium bavaricum was originally mentioned in a paper by Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer in 1831. However, his first description of the material came in 1833, in which he also created the new species Dinotherium bavaricum, the accidental change in genus spelling making it a lapsus calami. The material known is the lectotype P3, in the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und historische Geologie, selected from a group of specimens (a syntype) from Bavaria. Meyer compared the tooth to the material of Deinotherium gigantium, and found enough features to distinguish it as a separate species. Most deinotheres were lumped into Deinotherium until the studies of Harris, who concluded that morphology separated them into two genera, Prodeinotherium and Deinotherium. As the earliest description of a small deinothere in Europe, P. bavaricum became the type species of Prodeinotherium. This species was later reassigned to Prodeinotherium, distinct from D. indicum. This species was later reassigned to Prodeinotherium, as the only species from Africa. A study in 2010 by Vergiev & Markow noted that the teeth are quite similar to those of Deinotherium, and based on these features and age the species was thought to either be a species in between Prodeinotherium and Deinotherium, or belonging to the latter genus. Early depictions of deinotheres such as Prodeinotherium were scientifically incorrect. Before postcranial material was known, the genera were considered to be rhinos, giant tapirs, sirenians, whales, and marsupials. However, with postcranial material came the proposal of an elephantine relation. However, early depictions of deinotheres were too elephantine, practically only with the addition of lower tusks. These restorations were inaccurate, because they showed the lower lip directly beneath the trunk, with the tusks projecting from the "chin". According to a 2001 study, the tusks more likely projected above the lip, which followed the curvature of the jaw down. Another inaccuracy is likely the length of the trunks. Having a long, elephantine trunk was thought of as unlikely by multiple authors, including Harris and the 2001 study. Besides the large opening often associated with a trunk, the general skull structure makes it unlikely for the trunk to be elongated. The upper tusks, retained in all more derived proboscideans, were likely lost so that the upper lip could directly manipulate the food of Prodeinotherium. The way they chewed their food was probably similar to that of modern tapirs, with the front teeth being used to crush the food, while the second and third molars have a strong vertical shearing action, with little lateral movement. This chewing action differs from both that of gomphotheres (lateral grinding) and elephants (horizontal shearing). Deinothere molars show little wear, indicating a diet of soft, nongritty, forest vegetation, with the down turned lower tusks being used for stripping bark or other vegetation. The supports for the tusks used in feeding is also based on the fact that juveniles have a different tusk morphology, which is consistent on them likely possessing a slightly different diet or feeding strategy. The trunks of deinotheres were likely similar to a tapirs, which could have been used for grasping plant matter and moving it to where the tongue could manipulate it.