Evolution and dispersal of Mammutidae (Proboscidea, Mammalia)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Wighart von Koenigswald
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2018 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 407305594

Origin, dispersal and evolution of the genus Mammut (Proboscidea, Mammutidae)The history of the North American Mammutidae, a marginal family of the Elephantoidea shall be investigated, especially the transition from Zygolophodon to Mammut. In the European literature, traditionally the North American Mammut is regarded as a late immigrant from Europe during the Pliocene, whereas American authors argue for an endemic origin from an early immigrant during the Middle Miocene. This discrepancy is caused mainly by the limited number of informative mammutid fossils. Recent detection made by the applicant of three so far unpublished and highly informative fossils from the Miocene in North America allow a new approach to fill the gap of information during this crucial period. Although these specimens were excavated decades ago, they were not studied so far. The new materials to be investigated are housed in different museums/collections; it includes a cranium with mandible in a technical museum (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon, and a maxilla and a mandible in Eugene, University of Orgeon. In cooperation with American colleagues, the stratigraphic positions of these finds were reconstructed. They are from the Miocene. Additional comparative studies with a skull of Zygolophodon proavus, the only known cranium of this genus from North America, housed in the R. Alf Museum in Claremont, CA, are intended in cooperation with Don Lofgren (Alf Museum). On the European side, an unpublished partial skeleton including a mandible from the Pliocene of Thuringia housed in the Museum of Schleusingen will be studied. It is one of the latest European mammutids and the most complete from Central Europe and therefore important for the comparison with the North American lineage. The investigations shall be done by the applicant together with Ursula Göhlich, a specialist on Neogene proboscidens, experienced in systematics, cranial and postcranial anatomy and diet. The applicant WvK has specialized on the dentition of proboscideans in terms of mastication. Agreements with the American colleagues of the various collections are arranged and granted.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria
• Co-Investigator: Privatdozentin Dr. Ursula Göhlich