Editing Moeritherium (section)

==Taxonomy==
[[File:Map_of_Fayum_area.png|left|thumb|Map of the Fayum area of Egypt]]

=== Early history ===
The [[type species]] of ''Moeritherium'', ''M. lyonsi'', was discovered in strata belonging to the [[Qasr el Sagha Formation]] in the [[Fayyum (fossil deposit)|Fayum fossil deposits]] of [[Egypt]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Matsumoto |first=Hikoshichirō |last2=Andrews |first2=Charles William |date=1923 |title=A contribution to the knowledge of Moeritherium. Bulletin of the AMNH ; v. 48, article 4. |url=https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/items/fca96909-0303-46ab-8cd7-0e3fc3627a5e |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History}}</ref> The [[Type (biology)|type specimen]] (CGM C.10000) consists of an almost complete mandible.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Andrews |first=Charles William |author-link=Charles William Andrews |date=1901 |title=II.—Preliminary Note on some Recently Discovered Extinct Vertebrates from Egypt. (Part I.) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/geological-magazine/article/abs/iipreliminary-note-on-some-recently-discovered-extinct-vertebrates-from-egypt-part-i/27D7F26260C46DA8EFEB19FFBB4AB200 |journal=Geological Magazine |language=en |volume=8 |issue=9 |pages=400–409 |doi=10.1017/S0016756800179282 |issn=1469-5081}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Delmer |first=Cyrille |last2=Mahboubi |first2=Mohamed |last3=Tabuce |first3=Rodolphe |last4=Tassy |first4=Pascal |date=2006 |title=A New Species of Moeritherium (proboscidea, Mammalia) from the Eocene of Algeria: New Perspectives on the Ancestral Morphotype of the Genus |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00548.x |journal=Palaeontology |language=en |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=421–434 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00548.x |issn=1475-4983|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It was described in 1901 by [[Charles William Andrews]], who proposed two hypotheses for its phylogenetic position: either ''Moeritherium'' was part of the obsolete order [[Amblypoda]], or it was an early [[Proboscidea|proboscidean]], perhaps "a generalised forerunner of the [[Mastodon]] type". In any case, he regarded it as an ungulate.<ref name=":1" /> 

=== Additional species ===
In 1902, after conducting a more thorough examination of specimens collected by himself and his colleague, Hugh John Llewellyn Beadnell, he named a second species from the Qasr el Sagha, ''M. gracile''; a third was recognised in the same paper, though he did not provide a name, and referred to it simply as ''M.'' sp. The two species were distinguished from ''M. lyonsi'' by a more [[Gracility|gracile]] build and a larger body size respectively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Andrews |first=Charles William |date=1902 |title=II.—Preliminary Note on some Recently Discovered Extinct Vertebrates from Egypt. (Part III.) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/geological-magazine/article/abs/iipreliminary-note-on-some-recently-discovered-extinct-vertebrates-from-egypt-part-iii/7E8E5F1FFA556952E15664345C428802 |journal=Geological Magazine |language=en |volume=9 |issue=7 |pages=291–295 |doi=10.1017/S0016756800181178 |issn=1469-5081|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The lack of material overlap has made it difficult to determine how ''M. gracile'' actually relates to ''M. lyonsi'', as their [[Holotype|holotypes]] consist of different skull elements; the type specimen of the former (CGM C.10003) is a palate with no associated lower teeth. Regardless, they are treated as belonging to the same genus, and are likely separate.<ref name=":2" /> Two years later, a fourth taxon, ''M. trigodon'', was described, also by Andrews, based on remains recovered from the "[[Estuary|fluvio-marine]] beds"<ref name="Matsumoto1922">Matsumoto, H. 1922. Revision of ''Palæomastodon'' and ''Mœritherium''. ''Palæomastodon intermedius'', and ''Phiomia osborni'', new species. ''American Museum Novitates''. Number 51, November 21.</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Andrews |first=Charles William |date=1904 |title=Further notes on the mammals of the Eocene of Egypt (Part I) |journal=Geological Magazine |series=New Series, Decade V |volume=1 |pages=109–115}}</ref> (equivalent to the [[Jebel Qatrani Formation]])<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Badawy |first=Hanan S. |date=2018-03-01 |title=Termite nests, rhizoliths and pedotypes of the Oligocene fluviomarine rock sequence in northern Egypt: Proxies for Tethyan tropical palaeoclimates |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018217308209 |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=492 |pages=161–176 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.12.021 |issn=0031-0182|url-access=subscription }}</ref> around the lake Birket-el-Qurun.<ref name=":3" /> In 1955, over half a century after the genus' initial naming, Sri Lankan artist and palaeontologist [[Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala]] named two additional species, ''P. latidens'' and ''P. pharaonensis'', based on isolated mandibular fragments.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Deraniyagala |first=Paulus Edward Pieris |author-link=Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala |date=1955 |title=Some extinct elephants, their relatives and the two living species |journal=Ceylon National Publications, Colombo}}</ref>

In 1911, German zoologist [[Max Schlosser (zoologist)|Max Schlosser]] divided ''M. lyonsi'' into two species: ''M. lyonsi'', restricted to the Qasr el Sagha Formation, and ''M. andrewsi'', restricted to the Jebel Qatrani.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schlosser |first=Max |author-link=Max Schlosser (zoologist) |date=1911 |title=Beiträge zur Kenntnis der oligozänen Landsäugetiere aus dem Fayum, Ägypten |journal=Beiträge zur Paläontologie und Geologie Österreich-Ungarns |volume=24 |pages=1–167}}</ref> This classification, however, has been rejected. In 1971, German zoologist Heinz Tobien opted to synonymise the entire genus with ''M. lyonsi'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tobien |first=Heinz |date=1971 |title=Moeritherium, Palaeomastodon, Phiomia aus dem Paläeogen Nordafrikas und die Abstammung der Mastodonten (Proboscidea, Mammalia). |journal=Mitteilungen aus dem Geologischen Institut der Technischen Universität, 10, 141–163. |volume=10 |pages=141–163}}</ref> though he chose to altogether disregard, Deraniyagala's species, likely as they were poorly diagnostic.<ref name=":2" /> In 2006, Cyrile Delmer et al. published a paper describing a new ''Moeritherium'' species, ''M. chehbeurameuri'', from [[Bir El Ater]], [[Algeria]]. In their paper, they treated most of the above species (with the exception of ''M. latidens'' and ''M. pharaonensis'') as valid. While the paper was not intended as a systematic revision, they chose to treat at the very least three species as valid: the type species ''M. lyonsi'', ''M. gracile'', and ''M. chehbeaurameuri''.<ref name=":2" />

=== Classification ===
[[Henry Fairfield Osborn]], in 1909, suggested that ''Moeritherium'' was more similar to sirenians (manatees and dugongs, and their extinct kin) to any living or extinct proboscidean.<ref name=":5">{{cite journal |last1=Osborn |first1=H. F. |year=1909 |title=The Feeding Habits of Mœritherium and Palæomastodon |journal=Nature |volume=81 |issue=2074 |pages=139–140 |bibcode=1909Natur..81..139O |doi=10.1038/081139a0 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In 1921, however, he rejected this view, and divided Proboscidea into four [[Order (biology)|suborders]] or [[Taxonomic rank|superfamilies]]: Moeritherioidea, Deinotherioidea, Mastodontoidea, and Elephantoidea.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Osborn |first=Henry Fairfield |author-link=Henry Fairfield Osborn |date=1936 |title=Proboscidea. Vol. 1: Moeritherioidea, Deinotherioidea, Mastodontoidea. |journal=Amer. Mus. Press, New York.}}</ref> In a 1988 paper discussing the systematics of proboscideans, Pascal Tassy abandoned this system and neglected to provide any superfamily-rank clades. Erecting the suborder Elephantiformes, Tassy placed ''Moeritherium'' outside it, alongside ''[[Barytherium]]'', ''[[Numidotherium]]'', and the [[Deinotheriidae]]. He considered ''Moeritherium'' among the most basal proboscideans, with ''Numidotherium'' being the most basal and ''Barytherium'' being only slightly less basal than that.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tassy |first=Pascal |date=1988 |title=THE CLASSIFICATION OF PROBOSCIDEA: HOW MANY CLADISTIC CLASSIFICATIONS? |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1096-0031.1988.tb00467.x |journal=Cladistics |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=43–57 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-0031.1988.tb00467.x |issn=0748-3007|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In a 2021 paper describing a new genus (''Dagbatitherium tassyi'') Lionel Hautier et al. ran a phylogenetic analysis which recovered ''Moeritherium'' as sister to a clade including deinotheres and elephantiforms.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Hautier |first1=Lionel |last2=Tabuce |first2=Rodolphe |last3=Mourlam |first3=Mickaël J. |last4=Kassegne |first4=Koffi Evenyon |last5=Amoudji |first5=Yawovi Zikpi |last6=Orliac |first6=Maëva |last7=Quillévéré |first7=Frédéric |last8=Charruault |first8=Anne-Lise |last9=Johnson |first9=Ampah Kodjo Christophe |last10=Guinot |first10=Guillaume |date=2021-10-13 |title=New Middle Eocene proboscidean from Togo illuminates the early evolution of the elephantiform-like dental pattern |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |language=en |volume=288 |issue=1960 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2021.1439 |issn=0962-8452 |pmc=8511763 |pmid=34641726}}</ref>

A cladogram of Proboscidea based on the phylogenetic analysis of Hautier et al. 2021 is below:<ref name=":0" />{{clade|{{clade
|1=''[[Eritherium]]''
|2={{clade
|1=''[[Phosphatherium]]''
|2={{clade
|1=''[[Daouitherium]]''
|2={{clade
|1=''[[Numidotherium]]''
|2={{clade
|1=''[[Barytherium]]''
|2={{clade
|1=''[[Arcanotherium]]''
|2={{clade
|1=''[[Omanitherium]]''
|2={{clade
|1=''[[Saloumia]]''
|2='''''Moeritherium'''''
|3={{clade
|1=[[Deinotheriidae]]
|label2=[[Elephantiformes]]
|2={{clade
|1=''[[Dagbatitherium]]''
|2={{clade
|1=''[[Palaeomastodon]]''
|2={{clade
|1=''[[Phiomia]]''
|2=[[Elephantimorpha]]
}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}|label1=[[Proboscidea]]}}