The Proboscidea (from the Greekπροβοσκίς and the Latinproboscis) are a taxonomicorder of afrotherian mammals containing one living family, Elephantidae, and several extinct families. This order, first described by J. Illiger in 1811, encompasses the trunked mammals.[2][3] Later proboscideans are distinguished by tusks and long, muscular trunks; these features are less developed or absent in early proboscideans. Proboscideans may have produced the largest land mammals of all time in the form of Palaeoloxodon namadicus and Mammut borsoni, which weighed around 24 tons and reached shoulder heights of over 5 meters, surpassing several sauropod dinosaurs.[4]
The earliest known proboscidean is Eritherium,[5] followed by Phosphatherium, a small animal about the size of a fox. These both date from late Paleocene deposits of Morocco.
Most families of Proboscidea are now extinct, many since the end of the last glacial period. Recently extinct species include the last examples of gomphotheres in Central and South America, the American mastodon of family Mammutidae in North America, numerous stegodonts once found in Asia, the last of the mammoths, and several island species of dwarf elephants.[7]
The classification of proboscideans is unstable and frequently revised, and some relationships within the order remain unclear. As of 2005, at least 177 species and subspecies of proboscideans, classified in 43 genera, are recognized; the order is summarized as:[1]
^Vergiev, S.; Markov, G. (2010). "A mandible of Deinotherium (Mammalia - Proboscidea) from Aksakovo near Varna, Northeast Bulgaria". Palaeodiversity3: 241–247.
^Cooper, L. N.; Seiffert, E. R.; Clementz, M.; Madar, S. I.; Bajpai, S.; Hussain, S. T.; Thewissen, J. G. M. (2014-10-08). "Anthracobunids from the Middle Eocene of India and Pakistan Are Stem Perissodactyls". PLoS ONE9 (10): e109232. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0109232. PMID25295875.
^Shoshani, Jeheskel; Robert C. Walter; Michael Abraha; Seife Berhe; Pascal Tassy; William J. Sanders; Gary H. Marchant; Yosief Libsekal; Tesfalidet Ghirmai; Dietmar Zinner (2006). "A proboscidean from the late Oligocene of Eritrea, a "missing link" between early Elephantiformes and Elephantimorpha, and biogeographic implications". PNAS103 (46). doi:10.1073/pnas.0603689103.|access-date= requires |url= (help)
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