iDwarf elephants
Skeleton of a Cretan Dwarf Elephant.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Proboscidea in part

Dwarf elephants are pre-historic members of the order Proboscidea, that, through the process of allopatric speciation, evolved to a fraction of the size of their modern relatives. Insular dwarfism is a biological phenomenon by which the size of animals isolated on an island shrinks dramatically over time. Skeletal remains of dwarf elephants have been found on the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus, Malta (at Ghar Dalam), Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, the Cyclades Islands and the Dodecanese Islands. Other islands where dwarf elephants have been found are Sulawesi, Flores, Timor and other islands of the Lesser Sundas, the Channel Islands of California, and Wrangel Island off Siberia. Image File history File linksMetadata Cretanelephant-petermaas. ... For the famous World War II battle, see: Battle of Crete For other uses, see Crete (disambiguation). ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla Subregnum Parazoa Porifera Subregnum Eumetazoa Placozoa Orthonectida Rhombozoa Radiata (unranked) Ctenophora Cnidaria Bilateria (unranked) Acoelomorpha Myxozoa Superphylum Deuterostomia Chordata Hemichordata Echinodermata Chaetognatha Superphylum Ecdysozoa Kinorhyncha Loricifera Priapulida Nematoda Nematomorpha Onychophora Tardigrada Arthropoda Superphylum Platyzoa Platyhelminthes Gastrotricha Rotifera Acanthocephala Gnathostomulida Micrognathozoa Cycliophora Superphylum Lophotrochozoa Sipuncula Nemertea Phoronida Bryozoa Entoprocta Brachiopoda... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicates Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders Multituberculata (extinct) Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Australosphenida Ausktribosphenida Monotremata Subclass Eutheria (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Anagaloidea (extinct) Arctostylopida (extinct) Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Cingulata Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Dinocerata (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Leptictida (extinct) Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata... Groups Jozaria (extinct) Anthracobunidae (extinct) Moeritheriidae (extinct) Euproboscidea Numidotheriidae (extinct) Barytheriidae (extinct) Deinotheriidae (extinct) Elephantiformes Phiomiidae (extinct) Palaeomastodontidae (extinct) Hemimastodontidae (extinct) Euelephantoidea Choerolophodontidae (extinct) Amebelodontidae (extinct) Gnathabelodontidae (extinct) Gomphotheriidae (extinct) Elephantidae Mammutidae (extinct) Proboscidea is an order containing only one family of living animals, Elephantidae, the elephants, with three species... Groups Jozaria (extinct) Anthracobunidae (extinct) Moeritheriidae (extinct) Euproboscidea Numidotheriidae (extinct) Barytheriidae (extinct) Deinotheriidae (extinct) Elephantiformes Phiomiidae (extinct) Palaeomastodontidae (extinct) Hemimastodontidae (extinct) Euelephantoidea Choerolophodontidae (extinct) Amebelodontidae (extinct) Gnathabelodontidae (extinct) Gomphotheriidae (extinct) Elephantidae Mammutidae (extinct) Proboscidea is an order containing only one family of living animals, Elephantidae, the elephants, with three species... Allopatric speciation, also known as geographic speciation, occurs when populations physically isolated by an extrinsic barrier evolve intrinsic (genetic) reproductive isolation such that if the barrier between the populations breaks down, individuals of the two populations can no longer interbreed. ... Insular dwarfism is the process and condition of the reduction in size of large animals - almost always mammals - when their gene pool is limited to a very small environment, primarily islands. ... An ammonite fossil Eocene fossil fish of the genus Knightia Petrified wood fossil formed through permineralization. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... Ghar Dalam (written as Għar Dalam in the Maltese alphabet and meaning the Cave of Darkness) is an extraordinary prehistorical cul de sac containing the bone remains of animals that were stranded and subsequently became extinct on Malta at the end of the Ice age. ... For the famous World War II battle, see: Battle of Crete For other uses, see Crete (disambiguation). ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian, Sicilian and Spanish, Σικελία in Greek) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 km² and 5 million inhabitants. ... Sardinia (Sardegna in Italian, Sardigna or Sardinna in the Sardinian language), is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (Sicily is the largest), between Italy, Spain and Tunisia, south of Corsica. ... The Cyclades, from the Greek Κυκλάδες, (circular, modern Greek Kykládes; see also List of traditional Greek place names) form an island group south-east of the mainland of Greece. ... The Dodecanese (Greek: Δωδεκάνησα, Dodekánisa, meaning twelve islands) are a group of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, off the southwest coast of Turkey. ... Sulawesi (formerly Celebes ) is a large island in Indonesia. ... Map of Flores Island Flores (Portuguese for flowers) is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an island arc with an estimated area of 14,300 km² extending east from the Java island of Indonesia. ... Map of Timor Timor Island from space, November 1989. ... Map of Lesser Sunda Islands The Nusa Tenggara, or Lesser Sunda Islands, are a group of islands in the middle-south part of the Malay Archipelago. ... The eight Channel Islands of California, off the west coast of the United States. ... This article is about the Russian island. ... Siberian Federal District (dark red) and the broadest definition of Siberia (red) Udachnaya pipe Siberia (Russian: , Sibir; Tatar: ) is a vast region of Russia constituting almost all of Northern Asia. ...

Mediterranean Islands

Dwarf elephants were once part of the Pleistocene fauna of several Mediterranean islands. Mediterranean dwarf elephants have generally been considered as paleoloxodontine, derived from the continental Straight-tusked Elephant, Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus Falconer & Cautley, 1847. An exception is the dwarf Sardinian Mammoth, Mammuthus lamarmorae (Major, 1883), the only endemic elephant of the Mediterranean islands belonging to the mammoth line (DNA research published in 2006 shows that Elephas creticus may be from the mammoth line too). The Pleistocene epoch (IPA: ) is part of the geologic timescale. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... Species Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) cypriotes Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) falconeri Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) naumanni others Palaeoloxodon is an extinct subgenus of straight-tusked elephant. ... Binomial name Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus (Falconer & Cautley, 1847) The Straight-tusked Elephant (Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus or Palaeoloxodon antiquus) inhabited Middle and Late Pleistocene continental Europe. ... Species Mammuthus africanavus   African mammoth Mammuthus columbi   Columbian mammoth Mammuthus exilis   Pygmy mammoth Mammuthus jeffersonii   Jeffersonian mammoth Mammuthus trogontherii   Steppe mammoth Mammuthus meridionalis Mammuthus primigenius   Woolly mammoth Mammuthus lamarmorae   Sardinian Dwarf Mammoth A mammoth is any of a number of an extinct genus of elephant, often with long curved tusks...

During low sea levels, the Mediterranean islands were colonised again and again, giving rise, sometimes on the same island, to several species (or subspecies) of different body sizes. These endemic dwarf elephants were taxonomically different on each island or group of very close islands, like the Cyclades archipelago.

There is still much uncertainty about the time of colonisation, the phylogenetic relationships, and the taxonomic status of dwarf elephants on the Mediterranean islands.

Sardinia

• Mammuthus lamarmorae (Major, 1883)

Sicily & Malta

• Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus leonardii Aguirre, 1969
• Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) mnaidriensis (Adams, 1874)
• Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) melitensis Falconer, 1868
• Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) falconeri Busk, 1867

Binomial name Elephas falconeri Busk, 1867 Elephas falconeri is an extinct Siculo-Maltese species of elephant closely related to the modern Asian elephant. ...

Crete

• Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) creticus Bate, 1907
• Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) creutzburgi (Kyuss, 1965)
• Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) chaniensis Symeonides et al., 2001

After DNA research, published in 2006, it has been proposed to rename Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) creticus into Mammuthus creticus (Bate, 1907). Others proposed (in 2002) to rename all the described specimens of larger size under the new subspecies name Elephas antiquus creutzburgi (Kuss, 1965). This article is about the band Kyuss. ...

Cyprus

• Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) cypriotes Bate, 1903

The Cyprus dwarf elephant survived at least until 11,000 BP. Its estimated body weight was only 200 kg, which is a weight reduction of 98% from the 10.000 kg ancestor. Molars of this dwarf are reduced to approximately 40% the size of mainland straight-tusked elephants. Before Present (BP) years are the units of time (counted backwards to the past) used to report raw radiocarbon ages and dates referenced to the BP scale origin in the year AD 1950 (identical to 1950 CE). ... Binomial name Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus (Falconer & Cautley, 1847) The Straight-tusked Elephant (Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus or Palaeoloxodon antiquus) inhabited Middle and Late Pleistocene continental Europe. ...

Cyclades Islands

Remains of paleoloxodontine elephants have been reported from the islands of Delos, Naxos, Kythnos, Serifos and Milos. The Delos elephant is of similar size to a small Elephas antiquus, while the Naxos elephant is of similar size to Elephas melitensis. The remains from Kythnos, Serifos and Milos have not been described. The island of Delos, Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann, 1847 The island of Delos (Greek: Δήλος, Dhilos), isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, had a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of... The primary use of “Naxos” is as the name of a Greek island in the Cyclades. ... Kythnos or Kithnos (Greek: Κύθνος) is a Greek island in the Western Cyclades between Kea and Serifos. ... Seriphos (or Serifos) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, located in the western Cyclades, south of Kythnos and northwest of Siphnos. ... Milos (formerly Melos, and before the Athenian genocide at 415 B.C. Malos; see also List of traditional Greek place names, Greek: Μήλος, not related to the Modern Greek word μήλο = milo for apple which has the same spelling except for the trailing sigma) is a volcanic island in the Aegean Sea. ...

Dodecanese Islands

On the island of Rhodes, bones of an endemic dwarf elephant have been discovered. This elephant was similar in size to Elephas mnaidriensis. Location map of Rhodes Rhodes, (Greek: Ρόδος (pron. ...

Two groups of remains of dwarf elephants have been found on the island of Tilos. They are similar in size to Elephas mnaidriensis and the smaller Elephas falconeri, but according to Theodorou (1983, 1988) the two groups indicate sexual dimorphism. The remains had originally been designated to Palaeoloxodon antiquus falconeri (Busk, 1867). However, this name refers to the dwarf elephants from the island of Malta. As a result, since no migration route between the two islands can be proved, this name should not be used when referring to the elephant remnants from Tilos. Theodorou (1983) has accepted the temporal use of this name until further material can be examined. View over Livadhia, the port and main village on Tilos Tílos (Greek: Τήλος; ancient form: Telos, Turkish: İlyaki; Italian: Piscopi) is a small Greek island located in the Aegean Sea. ...

The Tilos dwarf elephant is the first dwarf elephant whose DNA sequence has been studied. The results of this research are consistent with previous morphological reports, according to which Palaeoloxodon is more closely related to Elephas than to Loxodonta or Mammuthus.

The Tilos dwarf elephant was the latest paleoloxodontine to survive in Europe. They became extinct just less than 4000 years BP, so this elephant survived well into the Holocene. World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven continents of the Earth. ... Before Present (BP) years are the units of time (counted backwards to the past) used to report raw radiocarbon ages and dates referenced to the BP scale origin in the year AD 1950 (identical to 1950 CE). ... The Holocene epoch is a geological period that extends from the present day back to about 10,000 radiocarbon years, approximately 11,430 ± 130 calendar years BP (between 9560 and 9300 BC). ...

Channel Islands of California

The Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbii) produced a separate, isolated population at the end of the Pleistocene. One of these isolated groups was formed on the Californian Channel Islands, most likely about 40,000 years ago (although the time of isolation is not fully known). Selective forces on the Channel Islands resulted in smaller animals, forming a new species, the Pygmy Mammoth Mammuthus exilis. Channel Islands mammoths ranged from 150-180 cm in shoulder height. Species Mammuthus africanavus   African mammoth Mammuthus columbi   Columbian mammoth Mammuthus exilis   Pygmy mammoth Mammuthus jeffersonii   Jeffersonian mammoth Mammuthus trogontherii   Steppe mammoth Mammuthus meridionalis Mammuthus primigenius   Woolly mammoth Mammuthus lamarmorae   Sardinian Dwarf Mammoth A mammoth is any of a number of an extinct genus of elephant, often with long curved tusks... Binomial name Mammuthus exilis Maglio, 1970 The Pygmy Mammoth (Mammuthus exilis) was a dwarfed descendant of full-sized mammoths, possibly Mammuthus columbi, the Columbian Mammoth. ...

Wrangel Island

During the last ice age, woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) lived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean. It has been shown that mammoths survived on Wrangel Island until 1700 B.C., the most recent survival of any known mammoth population. Wrangel Island is thought to have become separated from the mainland by 12,000 years BP. Survival of a mammoth population may be explained by local topography and climatic features, which permitted relictual preservation of communities of steppe plants. Because of limited food supply, however, they were much smaller than the typical woolly mammoth. Holocene mammoths from Wrangel Island ranged from 180-230 cm in shoulder height. Binomial name Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach, 1799 The woolly mammoth, also called the tundra mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth. ... This article is about the Russian island. ... Before Present (BP) years are the units of time (counted backwards to the past) used to report raw radiocarbon ages and dates referenced to the BP scale origin in the year AD 1950 (identical to 1950 CE). ...

Indonesia

On Sulawesi and Flores evidence of a succession of distinct endemic island faunas has been found, including dwarfed elephants, dating until the Middle Pleistocene. Around the early Middle Pleistocene these dwarfed elephants were replaced by new immigrants of larger to intermediate sizes. The Pleistocene epoch (IPA: ) is part of the geologic timescale. ...

Flores

The present understanding of the succession of Stegodon species on Flores is that endemic dwarfs, represented by the Early Pleistocene species Stegodon sondaarii, became extinct around 840,000 years ago. These dwarf forms were then replaced by the medium to large-sized Stegodon florensis, a species closely related to the Stegodon trigonocephalus group found both in Java and in the islands of biogeographical Wallacea, separated by deep water from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Stegodon is a genus of the extinct subfamily Stegodontinae of the order Proboscidea. ... Map of Flores Island Flores (Portuguese for flowers) is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an island arc with an estimated area of 14,300 km² extending east from the Java island of Indonesia. ... Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ...  Sediment  Rock  Mantle  The global continental shelf, highlighted in cyan The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent, which is covered during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and gulfs. ...

Sulawesi

The dwarfed Stegodon sompoensis lived during the Pleistocene on the island of Sulawesi. They had a shoulder height of only 1.5m. Sulawesi (formerly Celebes ) is a large island in Indonesia. ...

See also

• Pygmy Elephant

There have been reports of Pygmy Elephants living in both Africa and Asia. ...

References

• Davies, P., Lister, A.M., 2001. Palaeoloxodon cypriotes, the dwarf elephant of Cyprus: size and scaling comparisons with P. falconeri (Sicily-Malta) and mainland P. antiquus. The World of Elephants, Proceedings of the 1st International Congress (October 16-20 2001, Rome): 479-480. PDF fulltext
• Palombo, M.R. 2001. Endemic elephants of the Mediterranean Islands: knowledge, problems and perspectives. The World of Elephants, Proceedings of the 1st International Congress (October 16-20 2001, Rome): 486-491. PDF fulltext
• Poulakakis, N., Mylonas, M., Lymberakis, P., Fassoulas, C. 2002. Origin and taxonomy of the fossil elephants of the island of Crete (Greece): problems and perspectives. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2002, 186(1-2), pp 163-183.
• Poulakakis, N., A. Parmakelis, P. Lymberakis, M. Mylonas, E.Zouros, D. S. Reese, S. Glaberman and A. Caccone. 2006. Ancient DNA forces reconsideration of evolutionary history of Mediterranean pygmy elephantids. Biology Letters, 19 April 2006.
• Poulakakis N, Theodorou GE, Zouros E, Mylonas M. 2002. Molecular phylogeny of the extinct pleistocene dwarf elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus falconeri from Tilos Island, Dodekanisa, Greece. Journal of Molecular Evolution: 55(3):364-74.
• Symeonides, N.K., Theodorou, G.E., Giannopoulos V.I. 2001. New data on Elephas chaniensis (Vamos cave, Chania, Crete). The World of Elephants, Proceedings of the 1st International Congress (October 16-20 2001, Rome): 510-513. PDF fulltext
• Theodorou, G. 1983. The dwarf elephants of the Charkadio cave on the island of Tilos (Dodekanese, Greece). Phd Thesis Athens University: 321 pp.
• Theodorou, G.E. 1988. Environmental factors affecting the evolution of islands endemics: The Tilos example for Greece. Modern Geology, 13: 183-188.
• Theodorou, G.E., Agiadi, K., 2001. Observations on the microstructure of fossil tusks from the Charkadio cave (Tilos, Dodekanese, Greece). The World of Elephants, Proceedings of the 1st International Congress (October 16-20 2001, Rome): 563-567. PDF fulltext
• Tikhonov, A., Agenbroad, L. & Vartanyan, S., 2003 - Comparative analysis of the mammoth populations on Wrangel Island and the Channel Islands - in: Reumer, J.W.F., De Vos, J. & Mol, D. (eds.) - Advances in Mammoth Research (Proceedings of the Second International Mammoth Conference, Rotterdam, May 16-20 1999) - DEINSEA 9: 415-420 [ISSN 0923-9308] Published 24 May 2003
• Van den Bergh, G.D., De Vos, J., Aziz, F., Morwood, M.J. 2001. Elephantoidea in the Indonesian region: new Stegodon findings from Flores. The World of Elephants, Proceedings of the 1st International Congress (October 16-20 2001, Rome): 623-627. PDF fulltext
• Vartanyan, S.L., Garutt, V.E., Sher, A.V. March 1993. Holocene dwarf mammoths from Wrangel Island in the Siberian Arctic. Nature 362, 337 - 340.