Loxodonta adaurora

Loxodonta adaurora is an extinct species of elephant in the genus Loxodonta, that of the African elephants. Fossils of Loxodonta adaurora have only been found in Africa, where they developed in the Pliocene. L. adaurora was presumed to be the genetic antecedent of the two modern African elephant species; however, an analysis in 2009 suggested that L. africana evolved from L. atlantica. The same study concluded that Loxodonta adaurora was morphologically indistinguishable from Mammuthus subplanifrons and that these constituted the same species probably within the mammoth lineage. However, other authors have continued to consider L. adaurora a valid species of Loxodonta, with some considering it an early morph of Loxodonta exoptata.

Loxodonta adaurora

harrison_t · CC BY-NC 4.0 · via GBIF. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
LoxodontaPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Elephantidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Elephantidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 34 occurrencesPliocene — about 26 of 34 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 8 of 34 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 34 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.1–4.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.9–4.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.7–4.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.5–4.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.3–4.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.1–3.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.9–3.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.7–3.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6 Mya2.58 Mya5.8 Mya0 Mya

34 occurrences of Loxodonta adaurora on record, most of them in the Pliocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

34 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

10 formations

Hadar — 11.14°N, 40.58°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.70°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°ESagantole — 10.47°N, 40.50°ESagantole — 10.48°N, 40.60°ESagantole — 10.45°N, 40.45°ENachukui — 3.08°N, 35.83°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.70°ENachukui — 4.53°N, 35.92°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 9.83°S, 34.83°EChiwondo — 10.00°S, 33.92°EKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°EShungura — 5.05°N, 36.04°EShungura — 5.12°N, 36.04°ELothagam 3 — 2.88°N, 36.07°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°EMursi — 5.44°N, 35.96°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Loxodonta adaurora has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Loxodonta adaurora and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Loxodonta adaurora and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

241 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 34 sites for Loxodonta adaurora, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

19 references

Each of the 34 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 7 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Loxodonta adaurora

Source
GBIF
Credit
harrison_t
Licence
CC BY-NC 4.0
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

No 3D scan of Loxodonta adaurora was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLoxodonta through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Maglio 1970