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Cladus: Eukaryota Name Proboscidea Illiger, 1811 Synonyms * Proboscidiae Gray, 1821 Vernacular names
-------- Proboscidea is an order containing one living family, Elephantidae, and several recently extinct families, Gomphotheriidae (a subfamily of Elephantoidea), possibly Stegodontidae (depending on the assignment of Stegodon) and Mammutidae. Elephantidae contains three living species (the African Bush Elephant, African Forest Elephant, and Asian Elephant) and the now extinct mammoth species of genus Mammuthus from Eurasia and North America. Other recently extinct species that were present at the end of the last ice age include several gomphotheres in Central and South America, several stegodonts in parts of Asia, and the American mastodon of Mammutidae in North America.[1] Going further back in time, in the late Tertiary, species present included the "shovel tuskers" like Platybelodon and Amebelodon. The earliest known proboscidean is Eritherium[2], followed by Phosphatherium, both dating from Paleocene deposits of Morocco. From the Eocene, several very primitive proboscideans are known, including the African Numidotherium, Barytherium, Moeritherium and the Anthracobunidae from the Indian subcontinent. References 1. ^ Bjorn Kurten, Elaine Anderson (2005-05-17). "Pleistocene mammals of North America - Google Books". Google Book Search. Retrieved 2009-07-01. Source: Wikispecies, Wikipedia: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
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