A description of small gomphotheriid (Mammalia, Proboscidea) manuses from the earliest Pleistocene 111 Ranch Beds, southeast Arizona, USA

Abstract

A partial left and right manus of a gomphotheriid are described from earliest Pleistocene deposits of 111 Ranch in southeastern Arizona, USA. The discovery of these well preserved manuses provides a rare opportunity to describe these elements of a gomphotheriid in North America. I provide detailed descriptions and measurements as well as comparisons of the manuses with those of other extant and extinct proboscideans. Analyses of the manuses indicate it was a small gomphotheriid, possibly a small female, having morphological attributes more similar to other gomphotheriids, then ele-phantids and mammutids. The gomphotheriids Stegomastodon and Rhynchotherium have both been previously reported from 111 Ranch. © Society for Vertebrate Paleontology February 2014.