Elephantidae
Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals collectively called elephants and mammoths. These are large terrestrial mammals with a snout 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 (Asian  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 has been revised by various authors to include or exclude other extinct proboscidean genera.

Description 
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.

Classification

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:

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

Extinct species
Elephantidae
†Stegotetrabelodon
S. syrticus
S. orbus
S. lybicus
S. emiratus
Subfamily Elephantinae
†Primelephas
P. gomphotheroides
P. korotorensis
Elephas
†E. beyeri
†E. celebensis
†E. ekorensis
†E. hysudricus
†E. hysudrindicus
†E. platycephalus
Loxodonta
†L. adaurora
†L. atlantica
†L. exoptata
†L. cookei
†Palaeoloxodon
P. recki
P. antiquus
P. namadicus
P. naumanni
P. creutzburgi
P. xylophagou
P. iolensis
P. cypriotes
P. lomolinoi
P. tiliensis
P. mnaidriensis
P. falconeri
†Mammuthus
M. africanavus
M. columbi
M. creticus
M. exilis
M. lamarmorai
M. meridionalis
M. primigenius
M. rumanus
M. subplanifrons
M. trogontherii
Possibly †Stegodibelodon
St. schneideri

Evolutionary history

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. The earliest members of the family, are known from the Late Miocene, around 9–10 million years ago. While early members of Elephantidae had lower tusks, these were lost in later members. 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. Around 1.5 million years ago, mammoths migrated into North America. At the end of the Early Pleistocene, around 0.8 million years ago, Palaeoloxodon migrated out of Africa, becoming widespread across Eurasia. 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.

See also

 Deinotherium
 Embrithopoda
 Eritherium azzouzorum
 Zygolophodon
 Palaeoloxodon namadicus

References

External links
 
 

 
Extant Pliocene first appearances
Mammal families
Proboscideans
Taxa named by John Edward Gray
Elephants