All Topics  
Proboscidea

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Proboscidea
 
 
  Topics Proboscidea Topic Home

Proboscidea is an order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
 containing only one family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 of living animals, Elephantidae, the elephant
Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals of the order Proboscidea and the family Elephantidae. There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant and the Asian Elephant ....
s, with three living species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 (African Bush Elephant
African Bush Elephant

The African Bush Elephant is the larger of the two species of African elephant. Both it and the African Forest Elephant have usually been classified as a single species, known simply as the African Elephant....
, African Forest Elephant
African Forest Elephant

The African Forest Elephant was until recently considered a subspecies of the African Bush Elephant ; however, DNA testing has now shown that there possibly are three extant elephant species: the two African types, typically considered to be different populations of a single species, the African Elephant, and the South Asian species known as...
, and Asian Elephant
Asian Elephant

The Asian or Asiatic Elephant , sometimes known by the name of one of its subspecies – the Indian Elephant, is one of the three living species of elephant, and the only living species of the genus Elephas....
).

During the period of the last ice age
Ice age

The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers....
 there were more, now extinct species
Extinct species

This page features extinct species, organisms that have become Extinction.* List of extinct animals* List of extinct plants...
, including the genus of elephants Mammuthus (mammoth
Mammoth

A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of the Elephantidae and close relatives of modern elephants....
s) and the elephant-like species the mastodon
Mastodon

Mastodons or Mastodonts are members of the extinction genus Mammut of the order Proboscidea and form the family Mammutidae; they resembled, but were distinct from, the woolly mammoth, which belongs to the family Elephantidae....
s. Further back in time, in the late Tertiary
Neogene

The Neogene is a Geologic time scale#Terminology starting 23.03 ? 0.05 million years ago and lasting either until today or ending 2.588 million years ago with the beginning of the Quaternary....
, there were many more different types, including the "shovel tuskers" like Platybelodon
Platybelodon

Platybelodon was a genus of large herbivore mammal related to the elephant . It lived during the Miocene Epoch, about 15-4 million years ago, and ranged over Africa, Europe, Asia and North America....
 and Amebelodon
Amebelodon

Amebelodon is a member of a diverse group of primitive proboscideans called gomphotheres, a group that also gave rise to the modern elephants and their close relative the mammoth....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Proboscidea'
Start a new discussion about 'Proboscidea'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Proboscidea is an order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
 containing only one family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 of living animals, Elephantidae, the elephant
Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals of the order Proboscidea and the family Elephantidae. There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant and the Asian Elephant ....
s, with three living species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 (African Bush Elephant
African Bush Elephant

The African Bush Elephant is the larger of the two species of African elephant. Both it and the African Forest Elephant have usually been classified as a single species, known simply as the African Elephant....
, African Forest Elephant
African Forest Elephant

The African Forest Elephant was until recently considered a subspecies of the African Bush Elephant ; however, DNA testing has now shown that there possibly are three extant elephant species: the two African types, typically considered to be different populations of a single species, the African Elephant, and the South Asian species known as...
, and Asian Elephant
Asian Elephant

The Asian or Asiatic Elephant , sometimes known by the name of one of its subspecies – the Indian Elephant, is one of the three living species of elephant, and the only living species of the genus Elephas....
).

During the period of the last ice age
Ice age

The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers....
 there were more, now extinct species
Extinct species

This page features extinct species, organisms that have become Extinction.* List of extinct animals* List of extinct plants...
, including the genus of elephants Mammuthus (mammoth
Mammoth

A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of the Elephantidae and close relatives of modern elephants....
s) and the elephant-like species the mastodon
Mastodon

Mastodons or Mastodonts are members of the extinction genus Mammut of the order Proboscidea and form the family Mammutidae; they resembled, but were distinct from, the woolly mammoth, which belongs to the family Elephantidae....
s. Further back in time, in the late Tertiary
Neogene

The Neogene is a Geologic time scale#Terminology starting 23.03 ? 0.05 million years ago and lasting either until today or ending 2.588 million years ago with the beginning of the Quaternary....
, there were many more different types, including the "shovel tuskers" like Platybelodon
Platybelodon

Platybelodon was a genus of large herbivore mammal related to the elephant . It lived during the Miocene Epoch, about 15-4 million years ago, and ranged over Africa, Europe, Asia and North America....
 and Amebelodon
Amebelodon

Amebelodon is a member of a diverse group of primitive proboscideans called gomphotheres, a group that also gave rise to the modern elephants and their close relative the mammoth....
. The earliest known proboscidean is Phosphatherium
Phosphatherium

Phosphatherium is an extinct genus of primitive proboscidean that lived during the Paleocene to early Eocene some 56 million years ago of North Africa....
 dating from paleocene
Paleocene

The Paleocene or Palaeocene, "early dawn of the recent" is a geologic epoch that lasted from 65.5 ? 0.3 Mega-annum to 55.8 ? 0.2 Ma . It is the first epoch of the Palaeogene Period in the modern Cenozoic era ....
 deposits of Morocco
Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million and an area just under 447,000 km2....
. From the Eocene
Eocene

The Eocene Geologic time scale is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Palaeogene period in the Cenozoic era....
, several very primitive proboscideans are known, including the African Numidotherium
Numidotherium

Numidotherium is an extinct genus of early proboscidean discovered in 1984, that lived during the middle Eocene some 46 million years ago of North Africa, weight 200 kilograms....
, Barytherium
Barytherium

Barytherium is a genus of an extinct family of primitive proboscidean that lived during the late Eocene and early Oligocene in North Africa. The Barytheriidae were the first large size proboscideans to appear in the fossil records and were characterized by a strong sexual dimorphism ....
, Moeritherium
Moeritherium

Moeritherium is a genus consisting of several species. These prehistoric mammals are related to the elephant and, more distantly, the sea cow....
 and the Anthracobunidae
Anthracobunidae

Anthracobunidae is an extinct family of primitive proboscideans that lived in the early to middle Eocene period.They resemble the later Moeritheriidae in both size and cheek tooth morphology but lack their characteristic tusks....
 from the Indian subcontinent.