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.[1][2] Later proboscideans are distinguished by tusks and long, muscular trunks; these features are less developed or absent in early proboscideans. Proboscidea may have produced the largest land mammal of all time in the form of Palaeoloxodon namadicus, which may have weighed up to 22 t (24 short tons), with a shoulder height of up to 5 metres (16 ft), surpassing several sauropod dinosaurs.[3]
The earliest known proboscidean is Eritherium,[4] 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]
^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.