Mammuthus subplanifrons

South African Mammoth; Temporal range: Early Pliocene
	Skeletal restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Family:	Elephantidae
Genus:	†Mammuthus
Species:	†M. subplanifrons
Binomial name
	†Mammuthus subplanifrons; (Osborn, 1928)
Synonyms
	Loxodonta adaurora (Maglio, 1970)

Mammuthus subplanifrons, the South African Mammoth, is the oldest representative of the genus Mammuthus, appearing around 5 million years ago during the early Pliocene in what is today South Africa and countries of East Africa, especially Ethiopia. They already presented some of the unique characteristics of mammoths like the spirally, twisting tusks.[1] It was 3.68 metres (12.1 ft) tall at the shoulder and weighed about 9 tonnes (8.9 long tons; 9.9 short tons).[2] In 2009, it was shown that Loxodonta adaurora is indistinguishable from Mammuthus subplanifrons.[3] The continuously decreasing length of vertebral spines from shoulder to hip and the extreme femur to tibia ratio indicate that this species belongs to Mammuthus, not Loxodonta (Loxodonta spp. have high vertebral spines over the hips, the mid-back having the lowest),[2] and since Mammuthus subplanifrons was named first, that would be the valid name for the species.

References

Lister, Adrian; Bahn, Paul. (1 October 2007). Mammoths: giants of the ice age. Frances Lincoln LTD. p. 23. ISBN 9780711228016.
Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014.
The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology Volume 293, Issue 1, Article first published online: 20 NOV 2009: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.21010/pdf, retrieved 2 December 2011.

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[1] Lister, Adrian; Bahn, Paul. (1 October 2007). Mammoths: giants of the ice age. Frances Lincoln LTD. p. 23. ISBN 9780711228016.

[probos_mass-2] Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014.

[Todd-3] The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology Volume 293, Issue 1, Article first published online: 20 NOV 2009: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.21010/pdf, retrieved 2 December 2011.