Paleocene emergence of elephant relatives and the rapid radiation of African ungulates

Eritherium azzouzorum is represented by a 15-specimen hypodigm including holotype skull MNHN PM69 from the lower bone bed of Sidi Chennane; dental and cranial characters support a stem-proboscidean placement, while body mass and exact phylogenetic position are comparative estimates.

Eritherium azzouzorum is bounded by a 15-specimen hypodigm including holotype skull MNHN PM69 from the lower bone bed of Sidi Chennane, Morocco, within an approximately 60.5–59.2 Ma interval; this is not a global Proboscidea origin or direct ancestor range.

MNHN PM69 and fourteen referred specimens define Eritherium azzouzorum; the source's stem-proboscidean placement is a character-matrix result, not a direct ancestry claim.

The profile is limited to the lower bone bed of phosphate bed IIa at Sidi Chennane in Morocco's Ouled Abdoun Basin; this locality does not establish the distribution or geographic origin of Proboscidea.

Cranial and dental anatomy permits comparative functional interpretation, but diet, habitual habitat, locomotion and behaviour are not directly observed in the 15-specimen hypodigm.

Holotype skull MNHN PM69 preserves a rostrum and maxillary dentition, while fourteen referred specimens extend the sampled upper and lower teeth and cranial anatomy.