Elephant evolution, diagram

This image is part of the sequence Elephant evolution

Credit: GARY HINCKS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Caption: Elephant evolution, diagram. Nine species are named over six geologic time periods from 55 million years ago to the present. The ancestor species is Palaeomastodon (far left, in the Eocene), which evolves into Gomphotherium (in the Oligocene) and then Primelaphus (in the Miocene). This main line leads to Elephas (the Asian elephant) and Loxodonta (the African elephant) in the present (far right). Mammut (the mastodon) and Stegodon evolve in the Oligocene, becoming extinct in the Pleistocene (lower right). Anancus evolves in the Miocene, becoming extinct in the Pliocene (upper right). Mammuthus (the mammoth) evolves in the Pliocene and becomes extinct in the Pleistocene (upper right).

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