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Gomphotheres are any members of the diverse, extinct taxonomic family Gomphotheriidae. Gomphotheres were elephant-like proboscideans, but not belonging to the family Elephantidae. 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 in South America following the Great American Interchange. Beginning about 5 million years ago, they were gradually replaced by mammoths in most of North America, with Cuvieronius persisting in northern Mexico until the end of the Pleistocene. Of the two South American genera, of which Cuvieronius did not become extinct until 9,100 BP, and Haplomastodon, by most authors reclassified into Notiomastodon, fossils have been dated to as recently as 6,060 BP in the Valle del Magdalena, Colombia. These gomphotheres also survived in Mexico and Central America until the end of the Pleistocene.