Mammuthus meridionalis
Name:
Mammuthus meridionalis
Phonetic: Mam-mu-fus me-rid-e-on-a-lis.
Named By: Nesti - 1825.
Synonyms: Archidiskodon meridionalis,
Mammuthus gromovi, Mammuthus meridionalis vestinus, Mammuthus
meridionalis voigtstedtensis.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia,
Proboscidea, Elephantidae, Mammuthus.
Species: M. meridionalis.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: 4 meters high at the shoulder.
Known locations: Eurasia.
Time period: Late Pliocene to Early Pliestocene.
Fossil representation: Multiple specimens.
Mammuthus
meridionalis, or the southern mammoth as it is more
popularly known,
is one of the earliest mammoths in the fossil record and is often
treated as a possible progenitor species for some of the later
mammoths. These include the even larger steppe mammoth, M.
trogontherii, that appeared in Eurasia during
the mid-Pleistocene as
well as the smaller but more famous woolly mammoth, M.
primigenius
that appears in the later stages of the Pleistocene.
One
of the most interesting aspects about the southern mammoth is that it
does not seem to have specialised in eating grasses like later species
of mammoth. Examination of fossil sites indicates that the southern
mammoth was more at home in woodland habitats that had a variety of
trees and shrubs that it could browse from. The molar teeth also show
adaptions to eating leaves with the presence of ridges running atop of
low crowns.
Because
these woodland ecosystems are generally warmer than open plains, the
southern mammoth is not thought to have had the dense covering of fur
that is known in later species. However as the Pleistocene period
progressed an on-going series of ice sheets expanded and receded
back and forth across the land. This saw a change of the landscape to
mostly grassy plain habitats as a result of these glaciations,
something that necessitated a shift towards the primarily grassy diet
of later species. Additionally to cope with the periods of
glaciation, mammoths would need to develop a denser covering of
insulatory hair which would see the southern mammoth stuck in form
between the better cold adapted mammoths in the north, and elephants
of the south. In this instance the southern mammoth did not so much
as die out, just evolve into the better adapted form.
1 - Mammuthus primigenius (Woolly mammoth), 2 - Mammuthus trogontherii (Steppe mammoth), 3 - Mammuthus meridionalis (Southern mammoth), 4 - Mammuthus columbi (Columbian mammoth), 5 - Mammut americanum (American mastodon), 6 - Mammuthus exilis (Pygmy mammoth).
Further reading
- Tooth morphology of Mammuthus meridionalis from
the Southern bight of
the North Sea and from several localities in the Netherlands - Hans van
Essen - 2003.
- Mammuthus meridionalis (Nesti, 1825) from Campo
di Pile (L'Aquila,
Abruzzo, Central Italy) - S. Agostini, M.R. Palombo M.A. Rossi, E. Di
Canzio & M. Tallini - 2012.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random favourites
 |
 |
 |
 |