Elephas recki

Taxobox
name = "Elephas recki"
fossil_range = Pliocene to Pleistocene

---

regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Proboscidea
familia = Elephantidae
genus = "Elephas"
species = "E. recki"
binomial = "Elephas recki"
binomial_authority = Dietrich, 1894

"Elephas recki" is an extinct species of African elephant. At up to 15 feet (4.5 metres) in shoulder height, it was one of the largest elephant species to have ever lived. It is believed that "E. recki" ranged throughout Africa between 3.5 and 1 million years ago. The Asian Elephant is the only extant member of the genus. "E. recki" was a successful grass eating elephant that lived throughout the Pliocene and the Pleistocene until it was pushed to extinction in competition with members of the genus "Loxodonta", the African elephants of today.

ubspecies

M. Beden [Beden, M. 1980. "Elephas recki" Dietrich, 1915 (Proboscidea, Elephantidae). Èvolution au cours du Plio-Pléistocène en Afrique orientale] . Geobios 13(6): 891-901. Lyon.] [Beden, M. 1983. Family Elephantidae. In J. M. Harris (ed.), Koobi Fora Research Project. Vol. 2. The fossil Ungulates: Proboscidea, Perissodactyla, and Suidae: 40-129. Oxford: Clarendon Press.] [Beden, M. 1987. Les faunes Plio-Pléistocène de la basse vallée de l’Omo (Éthiopie), Vol. 2: Les Eléphantidés (Mammalia-Proboscidea) (directed by Y. Coppens and F.C. Howell): 1-162. Cahiers de Paléontologie-Travaux de Paléontologie est-africaine. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). Paris.] identified five subspecies of "Elephas recki", from oldest to youngest:
* "Elephas recki brumpti" Beden, 1980
* "Elephas recki shungurensis" Beden, 1980
* "Elephas recki atavus" Arambourg, 1947
* "Elephas recki ileretensis" Beden, 1987
* "Elephas recki recki" (Dietrich, 1916)

New research indicates that the ranges for all five subspecies overlap, and that they are not separated in time as previously proposed. The research also found a wide range of morphological variation, both between the supposed subspecies and between different specimens previously identified as belonging to the same subspecies. The degree of temporal and geographical overlap, along with the morphological variation in "E. recki" suggests that the relationships between any subspecies are more complicated than previously indicated. [Todd, N. E. 2001. African Elephas recki: Time, space and taxonomy. In: Cavarretta, G., P. Gioia, M. Mussi, and M. R. Palombo. The World of Elephants, Proceedings of the 1st International Congress. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Rome, Italy. [http://www.cq.rm.cnr.it/elephants2001/pdf/693_697.pdf Online pdf] ] [Todd, N. E. 2005. Reanalysis of African Elephas recki: implications for time, space and taxonomy. Quaternary International 126-128:65-72.]

References