Mammuthus subplanifrons

Mammuthus subplanifrons is the oldest representative of the genus Mammuthus, known from around 6.2-3.75 million years ago during the late Miocene-early Pliocene in what is today South Africa and countries of East Africa, especially Ethiopia, as well as possibly central Africa. They already presented some of the unique characteristics of mammoths, like the spirally, twisting tusks.

Mammuthus subplanifrons

Antonio Rares Mihaila · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikidata/Commons. 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
MammuthusPBDB
Diet
grazerPBDB, for Mammuthus
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Elephantidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 24 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 23.04 Mya and 11.7 ka, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Oligocene — about 0 of 14 occurrencesMiocene — about 4 of 14 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 14 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 14 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23.5 Mya0 Mya

14 occurrences of Mammuthus subplanifrons 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

14 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

5 formations

Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ESagantole — 10.47°N, 40.50°ESagantole — 10.48°N, 40.60°ESagantole — 10.62°N, 40.58°EAdu-Asa — 10.43°N, 40.42°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°EBredasdorp & Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mammuthus subplanifrons has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Mammuthus subplanifrons and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Mammuthus subplanifrons and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

254 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Mammuthus subplanifrons, 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

13 references

Each of the 14 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. 1 further reference is 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 Mammuthus subplanifrons

Credit
Antonio Rares Mihaila
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Mammuthus subplanifrons was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itMammuthus through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Osborn 1928)