Gomphotheres in GURPS

Gomphotheres were elephant-like beasts with four tusks - two in the usual place expected of elephants and two in the lower jaw. They lived in Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and Pliocene. In the late Pliocene they migrated to South America after the Isthmus of Panama connected the two Americas. South American gomphotheres lived on until the end of the last ice age.

• Stegomastodon lived in North and South America in warm, low altitude habitats during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene. They had just two tusks, up to 3.5 meters long.
• Cuvieronius lived in North America from the middle Miocene, and migrated to South America following the connection of the two land masses in the late Pliocene. It survived until the late Pleistocene. It lived in high altitude cooler climates. It had only two tusks, which were characteristically spiraled.
• Haplomastodon was a South American gomphothere from the middle to the end of the Pleistocene. Like many South American gomphotheres it had only the two upper tusks.
• Notiomastodon during the middle to late-middle Pleistocene of South America. It had four medium-sized tusks.
• Anancus lived in Africa, Europe, and Asia during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. It had just two tusks, but they were up to four meters long!
• Rhynchotherium lived in North and Centra America from the Middle Miocene to middle Pliocene.
• Sinomastodon lived in southeast Asia from the late Miocene to the early Pliocene. It had two tusks.
• Eubelodon was a gomphothere from North America's Miocene period. It had a long pointed lower jaw without tusks.
• Platybelodon was one of the shovel-tusked gomphotheres, with the bottom two tusks forming a shovel-like scoop. It lived from the middle Miocene to the early Pliocene in Africa, Eurasia, and North America. It may have used its shovel-tusks something like a scythe, gripping vegetation with its trunk and cutting with the tusks.
• Amebelodon lived in the Great Plains and Gulf Coast region of North America during the late Miocene. It was a shovel-tusker, likely using its shovel tusks to saw, scrape, and dig. It was a browser, and lived in both wet and dry habitats.
• Archaeobelodon lived in the early Miocene of Europe and Africa. It was a shovel-tusked gomphothere.
• Gnathabelodon lived in North America during the middle and late Miocene. It lacked lower tusks but had an enlarged spoon-shaped lower jaw.
• Gomphotherium lived in North America during the early Miocene to mid Pliocene. In the middle Miocene it migrated to Asia, Europe, and Africa. It had four straight tusks, and probably had a short trunk.

Back to proboscidians