Articles relating to the Gomphotheres, members of the diverse, extinct taxonomic family Gomphotheriidae. Gomphotheres were elephant-like proboscideans, but not belonging to the family Elephantidae. They were widespread in North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, 12–1.6 million years ago (Mya). Some lived in parts of Eurasia, Beringia, and South America following the Great American Interchange. While most famous forms such as Gomphotherium had long lower jaws with tusks, which is the ancestral condition for the group, after these forms became extinct, the surviving gomphotheres had short jaws with either vestigal or no lower tusks (brevirostrine), looking very similar to modern elephants, an example of parallel evolution. Beginning after 2 Mya, they were gradually replaced by mammoths and mastodons in most of North America, with the last two genera, Cuvieronius persisting in southern North America and Notiomastodon having a wide range over most of South America, until the end of the Pleistocene.
