Loxodonta atlantica

Loxodonta atlantica is an extinct species of elephant in the genus Loxodonta, from Africa. It was larger than the modern African elephant, with more progressive dentition.[1] It includes Pleistocene fossils from Ternifine,[2] Middle Pleistocene fossils from Elandsfontein and Late Pliocene fossils from the Omo River, with a final dating in the Late Pleistocene.[3][4] L. atlantica was said to probably derive from L. adaurora;[5] however, an analysis in 2009 suggested that L. atlantica evolved from L. exoptata, and is ancestral to L. africana.[6] The species is divided into two subspecies: L. atlantica atlantica (northern Africa) and L. atlantica zulu (southern Africa).[5] The type for Loxodonta atlantica is housed in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, but is listed without a specimen number.[6]

Loxodonta atlantica
Temporal range: Pliocene to Late Pleistocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Genus: Loxodonta
Species:
†L. atlantica
Binomial name
†Loxodonta atlantica
Pomel, 1879

References
  1. Owen-Smith, R. Norman (1988). Megaherbivores: the influence of very large body size on ecology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-36020-X.
  2. Geraads, D. (1987). "Dating the Northern African cercopithecid fossil record". Human Evolution. 2: 19–27. doi:10.1007/BF02436528.
  3. Carruthers, Jane; et al. (2008). "The Elephant in South Africa: History and Distribution" (PDF). In Scholes, R. J.; Mennell, K. G. (eds.). Elephant management: A Scientific Assessment for South Africa. Wits University Press. pp. 23–83. doi:10.18772/22008034792. ISBN 978-1-86814-479-2. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  4. Kingdon, Jonathan; et al. (23 May 2013). Mammals of Africa. A&C Black. ISBN 978-1-4081-8996-2.
  5. Coppens, Y.; Maglio, V. J.; Madden, C. T.; Beden, M. (1978). "Proboscidea". In Maglio, V. J.; Cooke, H. B. S. (eds.). Evolution of African mammals. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 336–367. ISBN 0-674-27075-4.
  6. Todd, Nancy E. (2010). "New Phylogenetic Analysis of the Family Elephantidae Based on Cranial‐Dental Morphology". The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology. 293 (1): 74–90. doi:10.1002/ar.21010.


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