Palaeoloxodon

Palaeoloxodon Temporal range: Early Pleistocene–Holocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skeleton of the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) at the paleontological museum of the Sapienza University of Rome
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Clade:	Elephantida
Superfamily:	Elephantoidea
Family:	Elephantidae
Genus:	†Palaeoloxodon Matsumoto, 1924[1]
Type species
Elephas namadicus naumanni Makiyama, 1924
Species
See text

Palaeoloxodon is an extinct genus of elephant. The genus originated in Africa during the Early Pleistocene, and expanded into Eurasia at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. The genus contains some of the largest known species of elephants, over 4 metres (13 ft) tall at the shoulders, including the African Palaeoloxodon recki, the European straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) and the South Asian Palaeoloxodon namadicus. P. namadicus has been suggested to be the largest known land mammal by some authors based on extrapolation from fragmentary remains, though these estimates are highly speculative.^[2] In contrast, the genus also contains many species of dwarf elephants that evolved via insular dwarfism on islands in the Mediterranean, some only 1 metre (3.3 ft) in height, making them the smallest elephants known. The genus has a long and complex taxonomic history, and at various times, it has been considered to belong to Loxodonta or Elephas, but today is usually considered a valid and separate genus in its own right.