Owen Goodchild
@paleowen.bsky.social
Comparative biology PhD student at the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History studying the evolution of North American proboscideans.
The trunk should extend beyond the mandible in Platybelodon and other long-jawed proboscideans. I wish paleo artists would make more up to date reconstructions of the fabulous diversity of Miocene proboscideans to reflect this. I like this one by Julio Lacerda
November 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
The trunk should extend beyond the mandible in Platybelodon and other long-jawed proboscideans. I wish paleo artists would make more up to date reconstructions of the fabulous diversity of Miocene proboscideans to reflect this. I like this one by Julio Lacerda
elifesciences.org/articles/90908
The osteological correlates on the skulls of Platybelodon and other shovel tuskers suggest they had long flexible trunks like living elephants.
The osteological correlates on the skulls of Platybelodon and other shovel tuskers suggest they had long flexible trunks like living elephants.
The trunk replaces the longer mandible as the main feeding organ in elephant evolution
The long mandibles were gradually replaced by more flexible trunks in the evolution of proboscideans.
elifesciences.org
November 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
elifesciences.org/articles/90908
The osteological correlates on the skulls of Platybelodon and other shovel tuskers suggest they had long flexible trunks like living elephants.
The osteological correlates on the skulls of Platybelodon and other shovel tuskers suggest they had long flexible trunks like living elephants.
www.jstor.org/stable/2400995
The flap trunk restoration of Platybelodon is probably not accurate.
The flap trunk restoration of Platybelodon is probably not accurate.
The Feeding Habits of the Shovel-Tusked Gomphotheres: Evidence from Tusk Wear Patterns on JSTOR
W. David Lambert, The Feeding Habits of the Shovel-Tusked Gomphotheres: Evidence from Tusk Wear Patterns, Paleobiology, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Spring, 1992), pp. 132-147
www.jstor.org
November 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
www.jstor.org/stable/2400995
The flap trunk restoration of Platybelodon is probably not accurate.
The flap trunk restoration of Platybelodon is probably not accurate.
Folks really seemed to enjoy it!
November 16, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Folks really seemed to enjoy it!
Big thanks to Ted Daeschler for advising me as an undergrad on this project, and to my coauthors A.R Cicarrielo, and @nshubin.bsky.social for their work on this project.
June 6, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Big thanks to Ted Daeschler for advising me as an undergrad on this project, and to my coauthors A.R Cicarrielo, and @nshubin.bsky.social for their work on this project.
My first lead-author paper! Meet Onychodus mikijuk from the Late Devonian Nordstrand of the Canadian Arctic. A small new addition to a very strange group of lobe-finned fishes.
June 6, 2025 at 12:24 AM
My first lead-author paper! Meet Onychodus mikijuk from the Late Devonian Nordstrand of the Canadian Arctic. A small new addition to a very strange group of lobe-finned fishes.
I think those may be vestigial lower tusk alveoli. Perhaps there were deciduous lower tusks there early in life? There is a juvenile specimen from the type locality of the Nebraska Megabelodon (M.lulli) but I am unsure if the presence/absence of tusks is conclusive there.
May 25, 2025 at 8:54 PM
I think those may be vestigial lower tusk alveoli. Perhaps there were deciduous lower tusks there early in life? There is a juvenile specimen from the type locality of the Nebraska Megabelodon (M.lulli) but I am unsure if the presence/absence of tusks is conclusive there.
Maybe. Li et al 2024’s tree recovered Megabelodon and Eubelodon as early diverging Amebelodonts.
May 25, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Maybe. Li et al 2024’s tree recovered Megabelodon and Eubelodon as early diverging Amebelodonts.
Some have suggested Megabelodon could be a Choerolophodont. The Nebraska Megabelodon specimens have downturned upper tusks with enamel bands, unlike even the most primitive Asian Choerolophodonts, which makes me doubt that.
May 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Some have suggested Megabelodon could be a Choerolophodont. The Nebraska Megabelodon specimens have downturned upper tusks with enamel bands, unlike even the most primitive Asian Choerolophodonts, which makes me doubt that.