Elephantidae

Elephantidae Temporal range: Pliocene–Holocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
A male Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) in the wild at Bandipur National Park in India
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Superfamily:	Elephantoidea
Family:	Elephantidae Gray, 1821
Type species
Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758
Subgroups
Elephas Loxodonta †Mammuthus †Palaeoloxodon †Primelephas

Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous mammals collectively called elephants and mammoths. These are terrestrial large mammals with a snount modified into a trunk and teeth modified into tusks. Most genera and species in the family are extinct. Only two genera, Loxodonta (African elephants) and Elephas (Asiatic elephants), are living.

The family was first described by John Edward Gray in 1821, and later assigned to taxonomic ranks within the order Proboscidea. Elephantidae have also been revised by various authors to include or exclude other extinct proboscidean genera.

Classification

"Man, and the elephant" Plate from Hawkins A comparative view of the human and animal frame, 1860

See also: List of elephant species and Elephants

The family diverged from a common ancestor of the mastodons of Mammutidae. The classification of proboscideans is unstable and has been frequently revised.

The most accurate phylogenetic tree of the elephants and mammoths as of 2010

The following cladogram shows the placement of the genus Mammuthus among other proboscideans, based on hyoid characteristics:

Elephantidae	Elephantinae Loxodontini Loxodonta (African elephants) Elephantini Palaeoloxodontina †Palaeoloxodon Elephantina Elephas (Asian elephants) Mammuthus (Mammoths)

The systematics of the living subspecies and species, the modern elephants, has undergone several revisions. A list of extant Elephantidae, excluding the extinct species of the two genera, includes:

Elephantidae

Elephas (Asiatic)

E. maximus Asian elephant

E. m. maximus Sri Lankan elephant

E. m. borneensis Borneo elephant

E. m. indicus Indian elephant

E. m. sumatranus Sumatran elephant

Loxodonta (African)

L. africana African bush elephant

L. cyclotis African forest elephant

Skeleton of Mammuthus meridionalis at MNHN

Scientific classification of Elephantidae taxa embraces an extensive record of fossil specimens, over millions of years, some of which existed until the end of the last ice age. Some species were extirpated more recently. The discovery of new specimens and proposed cladistics have resulted in systematic revisions of the family and related proboscideans.

Elephantids are classified informally as the elephant family, or in a paleobiological context as elephants and mammoths. The common name elephant primarily refers to the living taxa, the modern elephants, but may also refer to a variety of extinct species, both within this family and in others (see Elephant (disambiguation)). Other members of Elephantidae, especially members of Mammuthus, are referred to by the common name mammoth.

Evolutionary history

Evolution of elephants from the ancient Eocene (bottom) to the modern day (top)

Although the fossil evidence is very certain, by comparing genes, scientists have discovered evidence that elephantids and other proboscideans share a distant ancestry with Sirenia (sea cows) and Hyracoidea (hyraxes). These have been assigned with the demostylians to the clade Paenungulata. In the distant past, members of the various hyrax families grew to large sizes, and the common ancestor of all three modern families is thought to have been some kind of amphibious hyracoid. One hypothesis is that these animals spent most of their time underwater, using their trunks like snorkels for breathing. Modern elephants have this ability and are known to swim in that manner for up to six hours and 50 km (31 mi).

In the past, a much wider variety of genera and species were found, including the mammoths and stegodons.

See also

• Embrithopoda
• Palaeoloxodon namadicus
• Eritherium azzouzorum
• Deinotherium
• Mammut borsoni

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Elephantidae at Wikispecies