''Elephas'' is one of two surviving

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

Elephantidae Elephantidae is a family (biology), family of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals collectively called elephants and mammoths. These are terrestrial animal, terrestrial large mammals with a snout modified into a Elephant#Trunk, trunk and teeth ...

, with one surviving

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, the

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...

, ''Elephas maximus''. Several

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species have been identified as belonging to the genus, extending back to the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Elephas recki ''Palaeoloxodon recki'' is an extinct species of elephant native to Africa during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. At up to 14 feet (4.27 metres) in shoulder height, it was one of the largest elephant species to have ever lived. It is believed that ...

'', the

straight-tusked elephant The straight-tusked elephant (''Palaeoloxodon antiquus'') is an extinct species of elephant that inhabited Europe and Western Asia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene (781,000–30,000 years before present). Recovered individuals have reac ...

''E. antiquus'' and the

dwarf elephant Dwarf elephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea which, through the process of allopatric speciation on islands, evolved much smaller body sizes (around ) in comparison with their immediate ancestors. Dwarf elephants are an example ...

s '' E. falconeri'' and '' E. cypriotes'' are now placed in the separate genus ''

Palaeoloxodon ''Palaeoloxodon'' is an extinct genus of elephant. The genus originated in Africa during the Pliocene era, and expanded into Eurasia during the Pleistocene era. The genus contains some of the largest known species of elephants, over four metres t ...

''. The genus is very closely related to the genus ''

Mammuthus A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...

''.

Taxonomy

The scientific name ''Elephas'' was proposed by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1758 who described the genus and an elephant from

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The genus is assigned to the

proboscidea The Proboscidea (; , ) are a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. From ...

n family

and is made up of one living and seven extinct species:Maglio, V.J. (1973). "Origin and evolution of the Elephantidae". ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia Volume 63''. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, pp. 149 * ''

Elephas maximus ''Elephas'' is one of two surviving genera in the family of elephants, Elephantidae, with one surviving species, the Asian elephant, ''Elephas maximus''. Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to the genus, extending back to ...

'' – Asian elephant ** '' Elephas maximus indicus'' – Indian elephant ** '' Elephas maximus maximus'' – Sri Lankan elephant ** '' Elephas maximus sumatranus'' – Sumatran elephant ** '' Elephas maximus borneensis'' – Borneo elephant, proposed but not yet recognized as validFernando, P., Vidya, T.N.C., Payne, J., Stuewe, M., Davison, G., et al. (2003)
''DNA Analysis Indicates That Asian Elephants Are Native to Borneo and Are Therefore a High Priority for Conservation''
PLoS Biol 1 (#1): e6 The following Asian elephants were proposed as

subspecies, but are now considered

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

with the Indian elephant: * '' Elephas maximus sondaicus'' Javan elephant † * '' Elephas maximus rubridens'' – Chinese elephant † * ''

Elephas maximus asurus The Syrian elephant or Western Asiatic elephant (''Elephas maximus asurus'') was the westernmost population of the Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), which became extinct in ancient times. Skeletal remains of ''E. m. asurus'' have been recorde ...

'' – Syrian elephant † The following ''Elephas'' species are extinct: * ''

Elephas beyeri ''Elephas beyeri'' is an extinct species of dwarf elephant belonging to the Elephantidae family of the Middle Pleistocene. It was named after the anthropologist H. Otley Beyer. The type specimen was discovered on Cabarruyan Island in The Philippi ...

'' – described from

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

remains found in 1911 in

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

by von Königswald * ''

Elephas celebensis ''Elephas celebensis'', the Sulawesi dwarf elephant, is an extinct species of elephant. Description ''Elephas celebensis'' (sometimes referred as ''Stegoloxodon celebensis'') was about half the size of '' Archidiskodon planifrons'', to which bot ...

'' – Sulawesi dwarf elephant, described from southern

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

by Hooijer in 1949; also known as ''Stegoloxodon celebensis'' * ''

Elephas ekorensis ''Elephas ekorensis'' is an extinct species of elephant. Fossils have been found in East Africa dating as far back as the Early Pliocene age, between 5 and 4.2 million years ago. It is the earliest species placed in the genus ''Elephas''.Sanders ...

'' – described from the Kubi Algi Formation, Turkana,

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

* ''

Elephas hysudricus ''Elephas hysudricus'' is an extinct elephant species and was described from fossil remains found in the Siwalik hills. It lived during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epoch The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the ge ...

'' – described from fossil remains found in the

Siwalik hills The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the India ...

by Falconer and Cautley, 1845 * ''

Elephas hysudrindicus ''Elephas hysudrindicus'', commonly known as Gajah Blora (Blora Elephant) in Indonesia is a species of extinct elephant of the Pleistocene of Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. ...

'' – a fossil elephant of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

and different from ''Elephas maximus sondaicus''Hooijer, D. A. (1955)
''Fossil Proboscidea from the Malay Archipelago and the Punjab''
Zoologische Verhandelingen, 28 (#1): 1–146. * ''

Elephas iolensis ''Elephas iolensis'', also spelled ''Elephas jolensis'', is an extinct species of elephant. The type specimen is located in the National Museum of Natural History (France), National Museum of Natural History in Paris. It is only known from isolat ...

'' * ''

Elephas platycephalus ''Elephas platycephalus'' is an extinct species of large herbivorous mammals that were closely related to Asian elephants. It lived between 130,000 and 700,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene epoch. Fossils have been found in the upper Si ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q310746 Elephants Mammal genera Mammal genera with one living species Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus