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Feeding preferences of Gomphotherium subtapiroideum (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the Miocene of Sandelzhausen (Northern Alpine Foreland Basin, southern Germany) through life and geological time: evidence from dental microwear analysis

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Abstract

The objective of this study is to estimate changes in feeding preferences of the proboscidean species Gomphotherium subtapiroideum (Schlesinger 1917) by means of dental microwear analyses. The dietary changes are first evaluated through the ontogeny of this species, between juveniles and adults, and are then studied through geological time, from early Middle Miocene (MN5) to middle Late Miocene (MN8–9) localities of the German Molasse Basin. The microwear patterns of juvenile and adult individuals of G. subtapiroideum from Sandelzhausen (MN5) differ merely by the variable “length of scratches”, emphasizing longer jaw movements during mastication in adults. The microwear signatures of G. subtapiroideum do not vary significantly between the two geological time periods studied, but reflect mixed feeding preferences in both cases. These results imply that, despite an important environmental change at that time (drying and opening), the ecology of G. subtapiroideum and, especially, its feeding habits were not affected. Its dental microwear pattern is then compared with those of other species of Proboscidea from the Middle-Late Miocene of Germany, namely Deinotherium giganteum and Gomphotherium steinheimense.

Kurzfassung

Die vorliegende Untersuchung hat das Ziel anhand von „Microwear”-Analysen an Backenzähnen eventuelle Veränderungen von Futterpräferenzen der Rüsseltierart Gomphotherium subtapiroideum (Schlesinger 1917) abzuklären. Hierbei werden eventuelle innerartliche Veränderungen zum einen im Laufe der Ontogenie, also zwischen juvenilen und adulten Tieren, zum anderen im Laufe der Zeit vom frühen Mittel-Miozän (MN5) zum mittleren Ober-Miozän (MN8–9), basierend auf Material von Fundstellen aus dem deutschen Molassebecken, ausgewertet. Das „Microwear”-Muster von G. subtapiroideum aus Sandelzhausen (MN5) zeigt keine nennenswerten Unterschiede zwischen juvenilen und adulten Individuen, außer für die Länge der Kratzer, die wohl von längeren Kieferbewegungen bei adulten Tieren herrühren. Die „Mircowear”-Signatur von G. subtapiroideum lässt auch keine wesentliche Veränderung zwischen den beiden, untersuchten geologischen Zeiten erkennen; in beiden Fällen ist das Signal typisch für „mixed-feeder”. Dieses Ergebnis spricht dafür, dass, obwohl in diesem Zeitraum eine nicht unwesentliche Veränderung zu einer allgemein trockeneren und offeneren Umwelt statt gefunden hat, dies keinen Einfluß auf die Lebensweise und das Nahrungsverhalten von G. subtapiroideum hatte. Des Weiteren wird das „Microwear”-Muster von G. subtapiroides mit denen anderer mittel-/obermiozäner Rüsseltiere, nämlich Deinotherium giganteum und Gomphotherium steinheimense, verglichen.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to T. Kaiser and E. Schulz for discussions. IC thanks S. Legendre, G. Escarguel (Univ. Lyon, France), and the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Lyon and the Office Franco-Allemand pour la Jeunesse for financial support. UG was financed by a Habilitation-Fellowship (Hochschul-Wissenschafts-Programm, HWP) of the University of Munich. GM was supported by the Humboldt Foundation (Germany) and the Singer-Polignac Foundation (France). Finally, the authors thank G. Rössner and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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  1. Gildas Merceron

    Present address: UMR CNRS 5125 PEPS, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Campus de la Doua, 2, rue R. Dubois, 69622, Villeurbanne, France

  2. Ivan Calandra

    Present address: Biocentre Grindel and Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR CNRS 5125 PEPS, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Campus de la Doua, 2, rue R. Dubois, 69622, Villeurbanne, France

    Ivan Calandra

  2. Natural History Museum of Vienna, Burgring 7, Vienna, 1010, Austria

    Ursula B. Göhlich & Gildas Merceron

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  1. Ivan Calandra
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Correspondence to Ivan Calandra.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 3 Material list
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Fig. 4
figure 4

Dental facet nomenclature. Occlusal views of left M2 (a, left) and right M2 (b, left) of Macaca mulatta with location of each dental facet superimposed (modified after Kay 1977). Stippled features symbolize the grinding facets that are involved in phase II of mastication. Shearing facets are hatched and are involved in the lingual and buccal chewing phases I. The shearing facets that were investigated in this study are drawn on a right M3 (BSPG 1959 II 4783; a, right) and on a left M3 (1959 II 11381; b, right) of adult of Gomphotherium subtapiroideum from Sandelzhausen. Homologous facets on the posterior loph(id)s of molars are not represented here but were also investigated in this study. Scale bars = 50 mm

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Table 4 ANOVA summary
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Calandra, I., Göhlich, U.B. & Merceron, G. Feeding preferences of Gomphotherium subtapiroideum (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the Miocene of Sandelzhausen (Northern Alpine Foreland Basin, southern Germany) through life and geological time: evidence from dental microwear analysis. Paläontol Z 84, 205–215 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-010-0054-0

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