Mammutidae

Mammutidae is an extinct family of proboscideans that includes mastodons. Its members had distinctive low-crowned molars bearing rows of conical cusps.

Proboscidea: An order of mammals that includes elephants and their extinct relatives, such as mammoths and mastodons. Mammutidae is one branch of this broader order of trunked mammals.
Lophodonty: A tooth pattern in which cusps are joined into transverse ridges called lophs. Mammutid molars retain distinct cusps rather than forming elephantid-like grinding plates.
Eocene: A geological epoch spanning approximately 56 to 33.9 million years ago. Early proboscideans appeared during this epoch, before Mammutidae evolved.
Mammut: An extinct genus of mammutids that includes the American mastodon. This genus contains the best-known representative of the family.
Molar (tooth): A posterior tooth used mainly for grinding and crushing food. Mammutid molars carry the conical cusps that distinguish the family.
Horizontal tooth displacement: A process in which successive teeth move forward through the jaw as earlier teeth wear away. Like other proboscideans, mammutids replaced molars sequentially along the jaws.
Oligocene: A geological epoch spanning approximately 33.9 to 23 million years ago. Mammutids emerged in the fossil record around the Oligocene.
Zygolophodon: An extinct genus of mammutids known from fossil species across parts of Africa and Eurasia. Its fossils illustrate the family’s earlier Old World diversity.
Cusp (dentistry): A raised point on the chewing surface of a tooth. Rows of prominent cusps give mammutid molars their characteristic form.
Dental microwear analysis: The study of microscopic scratches and pits on teeth to infer diet and food properties. Microscopic wear on mammutid teeth helps test what their cusp-shaped molars processed.

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