Palaeoloxodon

Palaeoloxodon
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene–Holocene
Skeleton of the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) at the paleontological museum of the Sapienza University of Rome
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Clade: Elephantida
Superfamily: Elephantoidea
Family: Elephantidae
Genus: Palaeoloxodon
Matsumoto, 1924[1]
Type species
Elephas namadicus naumanni
Makiyama, 1924
Species

See text

Synonyms
  • Sivalikia Osborn, 1924
  • Pilgrimia Osborn, 1924
  • Hesperoloxodon Osborn, 1931

Palaeoloxodon is an extinct genus of elephant. The genus originated in Africa during the Early Pleistocene, and expanded into Eurasia at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. The genus contains the largest known species of elephants, over 4 metres (13 ft) tall at the shoulders and over 13 tonnes (29,000 lb) in weight, representing among the largest land mammals ever, including the African Palaeoloxodon recki, the European straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) and the South Asian Palaeoloxodon namadicus. P. namadicus has been suggested to be the largest known land mammal by some authors based on extrapolation from fragmentary remains, though these estimates are highly speculative.[2] In contrast, the genus also contains many species of dwarf elephants that evolved via insular dwarfism on islands in the Mediterranean, some like Palaeoloxodon falconeri less than 1 metre (3.3 ft) in shoulder height as fully grown adults, making them the smallest elephants known. The genus has a long and complex taxonomic history, and at various times, it has been considered to belong to Loxodonta or Elephas, but today is usually considered a valid and separate genus in its own right.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Matsumoto, 1924 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Larramendi, A. (2015). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 60. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014.