anterior dentition did not show a closed row of teeth, in the upper jaw there was an additional small diastema behind the first premolar. The premolars as a whole were quite simply built and not very molarised, i.e. they hardly resembled the molar. These had a bilophodont structure with two clearly formed transverse enamel ridges. The rearmost molar of the mandible, however, had a third enamel bar. In general, the teeth were brachyodont. Discovery The first finds were probably made by a fossil dealer in the early 1990s from an unknown location. The two fragments of the upper jaw were coated with phosphate, and the preparation of the finds revealed the tooth of a fossil shark, which dates to the late Paleocene (Thanetian) and thus confirms the ancient age of the finds. The holotype (copy number MNHN PM2) consists of a right upper part of the jaw with the last two premolars and the first two molars (P3 to M2). It is now in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. The first scientific description took place in 1996 by Emmanuel Gheerbrant and colleagues. The name Phosphatherium is made up of the Greek words φωςφορος (phosphoros "light-bearing") and θηρίον ( thērion "animal") and refers to the fact that it is stored in phosphate-containing sediments. The only known species is Phosphatherium escuilliei. The species name escuilliei honors the person who found the type fossils, François Escuillié. The first description was largely limited to the tooth features, a more extensive template of the then known find material was only published two years later. The first fossil finds were discovered in the north-eastern part of the Ouled Abdoun Basin in a phosphate-containing layer. However, they only comprised two fragmented upper jaws. However, the exact location of this find was not known. Further and much more extensive finds were discovered in the early 2000s in the same basin in the Grand Daoui area. This consists of numerous skull fragments, mandibles and some limb elements.<ref name="gheerbrant1998"/ Other very early proboscideans are known from the same area, the related Eritherium and Daouitherium. Taxonomy Phosphatherium is known primarily from two maxilla fragments dated to the latest Paleocene deposits of the Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morocco, which date from the Thanetian epoch. It is one of the oldest and smallest members of the Proboscidea, with an estimated shoulder height of about and body mass of . Like its later