''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 of elephants, Elephantidae, with one surviving species, the Asian elephant, ''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 era. While formerly assigned to this genus, ''

Elephas 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 elephants '' 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''.

Taxonomy

The scientific name ''Elephas'' was proposed by Carl Linnaeus 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 Elephantidae 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 The Sri Lankan elephant (''Elephas maximus maximus'') is native to Sri Lanka and one of three recognised subspecies of the Asian elephant. It is the type subspecies of the Asian elephant and was first described by Carl Linnaeus under the b ...

'' – Sri Lankan elephant ** '' Elephas maximus sumatranus'' – Sumatran elephant ** ''

Elephas maximus borneensis The Borneo elephant, also called the Bornean elephant or the Borneo pygmy elephant, is a subspecies of Asian elephant ''(Elephas maximus)'' that inhabits northeastern Borneo, in Indonesia and Malaysia. Its origin remains the subject of debate. A d ...

'' – 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

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendan ...

* '' 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'' – described from fossil remains found in 1911 in Luzon, the Philippines 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 * ''

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 by Falconer and Cautley, 1845 * '' Elephas hysudrindicus'' – a fossil elephant of the Pleistocene of Java 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 in Paris. It is only known from isolated molars. The species is known from remains ...

'' * ''

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