Elephantidae

Elephantids are distinguished from more primitive proboscideans like gomphotheres by their teeth, which have parallel lophs (homologous to the cusp pairs of more primitive proboscideans) bound by cement, allowing them to become more hypsodont (high-crowned) and more efficient in consuming grass.[6]

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

Skeleton of Mammuthus meridionalis at the French Museum of Natural History

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. Other members of the Elephantidae, especially members of the genus Mammuthus, are commonly called mammoths.

Taxonomy of elephantids based on nuclear genomes (ignoring hybridisation), according to Palkopoulou et al. 2018:[7]

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

• Elephantidae
  • Loxodonta (African)
    • L. africana African bush elephant
    • L. cyclotis African forest elephant
  • Elephas (Asiatic)
    • E. maximus Asian elephant
      • E. m. maximus Sri Lankan elephant
      • E. m. indicus Indian elephant
      • E. m. sumatranus Sumatran elephant
      • E. m. borneensis Borneo elephant

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

Elephantids are thought to have evolved from gomphotheres, with some authors proposing the most likely ancestors to be African species of the "tetralophodont gomphothere" Tetralophodon.[8] The earliest members of the family, are known from the Late Miocene, around 9–10 million years ago.[9] While early members of Elephantidae had lower tusks, these were lost in later members.[10] The modern genera of elephants and mammoths had diverged from each other by the end of the Miocene. Elephantids began to migrate out of Africa during the Pliocene, with mammoths and Elephas arriving in Eurasia around 3–3.8 million years ago.[11] Around 1.5 million years ago, mammoths migrated into North America.[12] At the end of the Early Pleistocene, around 0.8 million years ago, Palaeoloxodon migrated out of Africa, becoming widespread across Eurasia.[13] Palaeoloxodon and Mammuthus became extinct during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene, with the last population of mammoths persisting on Wrangel Island until around 4,000 years ago.[14]

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