Removing the hypothetical premaxilla from Phosphatherium
My data for the small basal elephant
from Early Eocene (55mya) Morocco, Phosphatherium came from a crushed and cryptic skull fossil photograph (Fig 1) and a graphic diagram (Fig 2) in which the missing premaxlla was recreated and represented with a dashed line.
Yesterday
I removed the dashed line elements and rescored Phosphatherium alongside two similar South American taxa, Astrapotherium and Astraponotus in which the reduced and toothless premaxilla (yellow) was tucked between the maxillae housing large canine tusks.
The premaxilla was invisible in lateral view, distinct from most vertebrates.
This arrangement imagines the fleshy nose was extended into a short trunk anchored at the forehead, as in extant elephants.
Of interest
in the cladogram published by Vallejo-Pareja et al 2015 Phosphatherium was not tested with the South American astrapotheres. In like manner, Algerian Numidotherium and elephants were excluded = omitted.
Why is this so?
It is common knowledge
that the tusks in elephants and their relatives are not formed by the canines but the incisors.
That tusk label was challenged earlier when I noted the toothless premaxilla of elephants wraps around and is laminated to the maxillae anchoring the canines (Fig 3).
Using only one to a dozen traits to label a taxon or clade is called ‘Pulling a Larry Martin‘. Don’t Pull a Larry Martin. Use all the traits available to score your taxa in your own LRT. Find out for yourself whether those tusks are incisors or canines.
References
Vallejo-Pareja MC (6 co-authors) 2015. Hilarcotherium castanedaii, gen. et sp. nov., a new Miocene astrapothere (Mammalia, Astrapotheriidae) from the Upper Magdalena Valley, Colombia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 35 (2) e903960.
wiki/Phosphatherium
wiki/Numidotherium
wiki/Astrapotherium
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2026/11/08/removing-the-hypothetical-premaxilla-from-phosphatherium/
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