Elephas

Genus of mammals From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elephas

Elephas is a genus of elephants and one of two surviving genera in the family Elephantidae, comprising one extant species, the Asian elephant (E. maximus).[1] Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to the genus, extending back to the Pliocene or possibly the late Miocene.

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Elephas
Temporal range: Pliocene to Present (Possible late Miocene record)
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Sumatran elephant
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Tribe: Elephantini
Genus: Elephas
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Elephas maximus
Species

For others, see text

Synonyms
  • Hypselephas
  • Elephantus
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Description

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Skull of Elephas maximus
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Skeleton of an adult male Asian elephant

Species of Elephas have distinct bossing of the parieto-occipital region of the skull. The premaxillae bones containing the tusks are tapered.[2]

Evolutionary history

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Perspective

Relationships of living and extinct elephantids based on DNA, after Palkopoulou et al. 2018.[3]

Elephantidae

Loxodonta (African elephants)

Palaeoloxodon (straight-tusked elephants)

Elephas (Asian elephants)

Mammuthus (mammoths) Thumb

Asian elephants share a closer common ancestry with mammoths (genus Mammuthus) than they do with African elephants (Loxodonta).[4] The oldest species attributed to the genus Elephas is E. nawataensis from the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene of Kenya, though the validity of this species and its relationship to Elephas has been doubted.[5] The oldest species widely attributed to the genus, Elephas ekorensis is known from the early-mid Pliocene (5–4.2 million years ago) of East Africa,[6] though the attribution of this species to Elephas has been questioned, due to a lack of shared morphological features with later Elephas species.[7] The oldest record of the genus outside of Africa is Elephas planifrons which is known from the Late Pliocene of the Indian subcontinent, around 3.6 million years ago.[8] However, the placement of Elephas planifrons within the genus has also been questioned.[9] The earliest fossils of the ancestor of the modern Asian elephant, Elephas hysudricus date to the beginning of the Pleistocene, around 2.6 million years ago, with remains found on the Indian subcontinent.[10] Modern Asian elephants had evolved from E. hysrudicus by the Late Pleistocene.[11]

Taxonomy

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Perspective

The scientific name Elephas was proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 who described the genus and an elephant from Ceylon.[12] The genus is assigned to the proboscidean family Elephantidae and is made up of one living and seven extinct species:[13]

The following Asian elephants were proposed as extinct subspecies, but are now considered synonymous with the Indian elephant:[1]

The following Elephas species are extinct:

While formerly assigned to this genus, Elephas recki, Elephas namadicus, the straight-tusked elephant E. antiquus and the dwarf elephants E. falconeri and E. cypriotes are now placed in the separate genus Palaeoloxodon, which is more closely related to African elephants.[23] However, some material historically assigned to Elephas recki , such as Elephas recki atavus, may be closely related to true Elephas, rather than to Palaeoloxodon[24] "Elephas" celebensis is now placed in Stegoloxodon.[25]

References

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