quote:The straight-tusked elephants Palaeoloxodon spp. were widespread across Eurasia during the Pleistocene. Phylogenetic reconstructions using morphological traits have grouped them with Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), and many paleontologists place Palaeoloxodon within Elephas. Here, we report the recovery of full mitochondrial genomes from four and partial nuclear genomes from two P. antiquus fossils. These fossils were collected at two sites in Germany, Neumark-Nord and Weimar-Ehringsdorf, and likely date to interglacial periods ~120 and ~244 thousand years ago, respectively. Unexpectedly, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analyses suggest that P. antiquus was a close relative of extant African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis). Species previously referred to Palaeoloxodon are thus most parsimoniously explained as having diverged from the lineage of Loxodonta, indicating that Loxodonta has not been constrained to Africa. Our results demonstrate that the current picture of elephant evolution is in need of substantial revision.
Folks can say what they want about ES, but you guys were ahead of your time on a multitude of issues.
Posts: 1781 | From: New York | Registered: Jul 2016
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So the EurAsian-African steppe-savanna elephantids derived from Ituri forest elephants, exactly like the Anatolian-African savanna long-necked giraffes are derived from Ituri forest short-necked Okapi giraffes, AND, exactly like OOA & non-forest humans derived from Ituri forest people who lived near crystal feeder streams in dome huts - round shields (and occasionally hunted forest elephants & okapi).
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If Palaeoloxodon is a branch of the Loxodonta genus along with the two extant elephant species, shouldn't the paleoartists reconstruct it with big ears rather than the small ears you see in these illustrations? I think it's odd how artistic reconstructions of prehistoric elephants always give them small ears like Asian elephants even if the species in question developed in Africa. I would think big ears like those of modern African elephants would have been widespread among prehistoric proboscideans (since Proboscidea itself emerged in Africa) and that the smaller ears of Asian elephants and mammoths represent a derived state (perhaps in adaptation to the cooler climates of northern Eurasia).
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