Plesielephantiformes

Plesielephantiformes is a proposed suborder of the Proboscidea, the group containing elephants and their close relatives. It was named and circumscribed in a 2001 study by Jeheskel Shoshani and colleagues to include Deinotheriidae, as well as Numidotheriidae and Barytheriidae. While originally proposed to represent a monophyletic clade, based on the supposed unifying character of having bilophodont teeth, most modern phylogenetic studies of Proboscidea find the group to be paraphyletic, with Deinotheriidae more closely related to Elephantiformes than to other supposed members of the group.

Plesielephantiformes

Tolea93 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/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
ProboscideaPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Proboscidea
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Proboscidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 33.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 27.3 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 42 occurrencesEocene — about 35 of 42 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 7 of 42 occurrencesOligocene57–56 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 2 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 6 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 6 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 6 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 5 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences48.07 Mya33.9 Mya56.6 Mya26.7 Mya

42 occurrences of Plesielephantiformes on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

42 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

12 formations

Qasr el Sagha — 29.53°N, 30.53°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.66°N, 30.74°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.62°N, 30.69°EJebel Qatrani — 29.64°N, 30.58°EAshawq — 17.00°N, 54.00°ETamaguélelt — 17.59°N, 0.25°ETamaguélelt — 17.59°N, 0.25°EHarudi — 23.51°N, 68.69°EHarudi — 23.51°N, 68.78°EIdam Unit — 25.71°N, 18.18°ELumachelle calcaire marin — 14.35°N, 16.18°WContinental terminal — 16.55°N, 0.33°EBirket Qarun — 29.50°N, 30.50°EAshawaq — 17.00°N, 53.00°EAridal — 25.09°N, 13.89°W

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The named rock units Plesielephantiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Plesielephantiformes and its relatives

Eocene

Where Plesielephantiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

171 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Plesielephantiformes, 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

18 references

Each of the 42 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. 6 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 Plesielephantiformes

Credit
Tolea93
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Plesielephantiformes 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 itProboscidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Shoshani 2001