Proboscidea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Proboscidea Temporal range: Late Palaeocene – Recent |
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| African Elephant | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Eutheria |
| Superorder: | Afrotheria |
| Order: | Proboscidea Illiger, 1811 |
Proboscidea is an order containing only one familiy of living animals, Elephantidae, the elephants, with three living species (African Forest Elephant, African Bush Elephant, and Asian Elephant)[1]. During the period of the last ice age there were more, now extinct species, including a number of species of the elephant-like mammoths and mastodons.
Origins [change]
The oldest dates from the early Tertiary period, over 50 million years ago. The evolution of the elephant-like animals mainly concerned the proportions of the cranium and jaw and the shape of the tusks and molar teeth.
Groups [change]
†Jozaria
†Anthracobunidae
†Moeritheriidae
Euproboscidea
References [change]
- ↑ Shoshani, Jeheskel (16 November 2005). Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). pp. 90-91. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3.
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