Sinomastodon is an extinct gomphothere

Gomphothere

Gomphotheriidae is a diverse taxonomic family of extinct elephant-like animals , called gomphotheres. They were widespread in North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, 12-1.6 million years ago. Some lived in parts of Eurasia, Beringia and, following the Great American Interchange,...

 genus (of order Proboscidea

Proboscidea

Proboscidea is a taxonomic order containing one living family, Elephantidae, and several extinct families. This order was first described by J. Illiger in 1881 and encompasses the trunked mammals...

), from the Late Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

 to the Early Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

 deposits of south-east Asia (China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, and Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

). It is not to be confused with the genus Mammut from a different proboscidean family

Mammutidae

Mammutidae is a family of extinct proboscideans that lived between the Miocene to the Pleistocene or Holocene. The family was first described in 1922, classifying fossil specimens of the type genus Mammut , and has since been placed in various arrangements of the order...

, whose members are commonly called "mastodons".

The animal was very similar to modern elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

s with size ranging from 3.6 to 5.3 m. Several species are known from China, the best known being S. hanjiangensis from the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene of the Shanxi

Shanxi

' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....

 province. It is known from an incomplete skeleton of an adult (measuring 5.3 m) including maxilla, mandibles, teeth, tusks and other materials have been discovered. The Japanese species S. sendaicus described in 1924 from dentary materials from Pliocene deposits has been ascribed to the genus, as well as the species S. bumiajuensis (formerly Tetralophodon

Tetralophodon

Tetralophodon is an extinct gomphothere genus . Like typical gomphotheres, Tetralophodon had four tusks and a trunk. This genus of animals stood about ten feet tall and was a very widespread and successful proboscidean. Tetralophodon lived through the Miocene and Pliocene epoches...

) from the late Pliocene of Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

.