''Primelephas'' is a genus of Elephantinae that existed during the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

and

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58mammoth 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 an ...

s, and the closely allied genera '' Elephas'' and '' Loxodonta'', the Asian and African elephants, diverging some 4-6 million years ago. It had four tusks, which is a trait not shared with its descendants, but common in earlier proboscideans. The type species, ''Primelephas gomphotheroides'', was described by Vincent Maglio in 1970, with the specific epithet indicating the fossil specimens were

gomphothere Gomphotheres are any members of the diverse, extinct taxonomic family Gomphotheriidae. Gomphotheres were elephant-like proboscideans, but do not belong to the family Elephantidae. They were widespread across Afro-Eurasia and North America dur ...

-like. ''Primelephas korotorensis'' is the only other species to be assigned to the genus.

References

Elephantidae Pliocene proboscideans Miocene proboscideans Prehistoric elephants Prehistoric placental genera Neogene mammals of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1970 {{paleo-proboscidean-stub