Stegodon ("roofed tooth" from the Ancient Greek words στέγω, stégō, 'to cover', + ὀδούς, odoús, 'tooth' because of the distinctive ridges on the animal's molars) is an extinct genus of proboscidean, related to elephants.

The oldest fossils of the genus are found in Late Miocene strata in Asia, likely originating from the more archaic Stegolophodon, subsequently migrating into Africa.

[10] Similar to modern-day elephants, stegodonts were likely good swimmers,[11][12] allowing them to disperse to remote islands in Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan.

[13][14] During Pliocene-Early Pleistocene (from around 4-1 million years ago), a succession of endemic dwarf species of Stegodon, probably representing a single lineage lived in the Japanese archipelago, probably derived from the mainland Chinese S. zdanskyi.

[17] Like modern elephants, but unlike more primitive proboscideans, Stegodon is thought to have chewed using a proal movement (a forward stroke from the back to the front) of the lower jaws.

orientalis specimens from the late Middle Pleistocene of Thailand suggests that these individuals were mixed feeders that consumed a significant amount of C4 grass.

[21] Specimens of Stegodon trigonocephalus from the Early-Middle Pleistocene of Java were found to be mixed feeders to grazers, with a diet similar to that of sympatric Elephas hysudrindicus.

[27] The following cladogram shows the placement of the genus Stegodon among other proboscideans, based on hyoid characteristics:[26] Mammut americanum (American mastodon) Gomphotherium sp.

[30] At a cave deposit on Gele Mountain near Chongqing in southwest China, a mandible of Stegodon orientalis was used to make a handaxe, with dating suggesting the bone is around 170,000 years old.

The ambiguous circumstantial association between bones and stone tools, and the rarity of cut marks makes it unclear to what if to any degree, hunting of Stegodon was practiced by Homo floresiensis.

[23] The Javanese species Stegodon trigonocephalus became extinct around 130-80,000 years ago during the latest Middle Pleistocene-early Late Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stage 5) following a change to more humid conditions, which may have reduced grazing habitat.

), mainland Southeast Asia and China (S. orientalis) at some point during the Late Pleistocene epoch, while Asian elephants, which existed in sympatry with Stegodon in these regions, are still extant.

[39] The survival of the Asian elephant as opposed to Stegodon orientalis in Southeast Asia and South China has been suggested to be due to its more flexible diet in comparison to S.