Mastodon have been no reports of currently recognized "Mammut" species outside of North America according to Paleobiology database (which does not recognize "M. borsoni"). However, the status of "Mammut" or "Zygolophodon borsoni" in the literature appears equivocal. "Mammut" is a genus of the extinct family Mammutidae, related to the proboscidean family Elephantidae (mammoths and elephants), from which it originally diverged approximately 27 million years ago. The following cladogram shows the placement of the American mastodon among other proboscideans, based on hyoid characteristics: Over the years, several fossils from localities in North America, Africa and Asia have been attributed to "Mammut", but
Mastodon incognitum "mastodon". The name "mastodon" (or "mastodont") means "breast tooth" (Ancient Greek: μαστός "breast" and ὀδούς, "tooth"), and was assigned by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1817, for the nipple-like projections on the crowns of its molars. "Mastodon" as a genus name is obsolete; the valid name is "Mammut", a name that preceded Cuvier's description, making "Mastodon" a junior synonym. The change was met with resistance, and authors sometimes applied ""Mastodon"" as an informal name; consequently it became the common term for members of the genus. Species include: Since a tentative 1977 report of "M. matthewi" in China, there