Editing Elephas (section)

== Evolutionary history ==
Relationships of living and extinct elephantids based on DNA, after Palkopoulou et al. 2018.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |author1=Eleftheria Palkopoulou |author2=Mark Lipson |author3=Swapan Mallick |author4=Svend Nielsen |author5=Nadin Rohland |author6=Sina Baleka |author7=Emil Karpinski |author8=Atma M. Ivancevic |author9=Thu-Hien To |author10=R. Daniel Kortschak |author11=Joy M. Raison |author12=Zhipeng Qu |author13=Tat-Jun Chin |author14=Kurt W. Alt |author15=Stefan Claesson |year=2018 |title=A comprehensive genomic history of extinct and living elephants |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=115 |issue=11 |pages=E2566–E2574 |bibcode=2018PNAS..115E2566P |doi=10.1073/pnas.1720554115 |pmc=5856550 |pmid=29483247 |doi-access=free |author16=Love Dalén |author17=Ross D. E. MacPhee |author18=Harald Meller |author19=Alfred L. Roca |author20=Oliver A. Ryder |author21=David Heiman |author22=Sarah Young |author23=Matthew Breen |author24=Christina Williams |author25=Bronwen L. Aken |author26=Magali Ruffier |author27=Elinor Karlsson |author28=Jeremy Johnson |author29=Federica Di Palma |author-link29 = Federica Di Palma| author30=Jessica Alfoldi |author31=David L. Adelson |author32=Thomas Mailund |author33=Kasper Munch |author34=Kerstin Lindblad-Toh |author35=Michael Hofreiter |author36=Hendrik Poinar |author37=David Reich}}</ref>{{clade|{{clade
|1={{clade
|1=''[[Loxodonta]]'' (African elephants) [[File:Elephas africanus - 1700-1880 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - (white background).jpg|60 px]]
|2={{extinct}}''[[Palaeoloxodon]]'' (straight-tusked elephants)  [[File:Palaeoloxodon namadicus-bpk (cropped).jpg|60 px]]
}}
|2={{clade
                     |1=''Elephas'' (Asian elephants) [[File:Indian elephant white background.jpg|60 px]]
                     |2={{extinct}}''[[Mammuthus]]'' (mammoths) [[File:Mammuthus trogontherii122DB.jpg|70 px]]
                     }}}}|label1=[[Elephantidae]]}}Asian elephants share a closer common ancestry with [[mammoth]]s (genus ''Mammuthus'') than they do with [[African elephant]]s (''Loxodonta'').<ref name="Fleischer2001">{{cite journal |last1=Fleischer |first1=R. C. |last2=Perry |first2=E. A. |last3=Muralidharan |first3=K. |last4=Stevens |first4=E. E. |last5=Wemmer |first5=C. M. |name-list-style=amp |year=2001 |title=Phylogeography of the Asian Elephant (''Elephas maximus'') based on mitochondrial DNA |journal=Evolution |volume=55 |issue=9 |pages=1882–1892 |doi=10.1111/j.0014-3820.2001.tb00837.x |pmid=11681743 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The oldest species attributed to the genus ''Elephas'' is ''E. nawataensis'' from the Late [[Miocene]]-Early [[Pliocene]] of Kenya, though the validity of this species and its relationship to ''Elephas'' has been doubted.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=Manthi |first1=Fredrick Kyalo |last2=Sanders |first2=William J. |last3=Plavcan |first3=J. Michael |last4=Cerling |first4=Thure E. |last5=Brown |first5=Francis H. |date=September 2020 |title=Late Middle Pleistocene Elephants from Natodomeri, Kenya and the Disappearance of Elephas (Proboscidea, Mammalia) in Africa |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10914-019-09474-9 |journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution |language=en |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=483–495 |doi=10.1007/s10914-019-09474-9 |issn=1064-7554|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The oldest species widely attributed to the genus, ''[[Elephas ekorensis]]'' is known from the early-mid Pliocene (5–4.2 million years ago) of East Africa'',''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sanders |first1=William J. |last2=Haile-Selassie |first2=Yohannes |date=June 2012 |title=A New Assemblage of Mid-Pliocene Proboscideans from the Woranso-Mille Area, Afar Region, Ethiopia: Taxonomic, Evolutionary, and Paleoecological Considerations |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10914-011-9181-y |journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution |language=en |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=105–128 |doi=10.1007/s10914-011-9181-y |s2cid=254703858 |issn=1064-7554|url-access=subscription }}</ref> though the attribution of this species to ''Elephas'' has been questioned, due to a lack of shared morphological features with later ''Elephas'' species.''<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Sanders |first=William J. |date=March 2020 |title=Proboscidea from Kanapoi, Kenya |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0047248418303919 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |language=en |volume=140 |pages=102547 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.10.013|pmid=30745193 |bibcode=2020JHumE.14002547S |s2cid=73451588 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>'' The oldest record of the genus outside of Africa is ''[[Elephas planifrons]]'' which is known from the Late Pliocene of the Indian subcontinent, around 3.6 million years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Iannucci |first1=Alessio |last2=Sardella |first2=Raffaele |date=2023-02-28 |title=What Does the "Elephant-Equus" Event Mean Today? Reflections on Mammal Dispersal Events around the Pliocene-Pleistocene Boundary and the Flexible Ambiguity of Biochronology |journal=Quaternary |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=16 |doi=10.3390/quat6010016 |doi-access=free |issn=2571-550X|hdl=11573/1680082 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> However, the placement of ''Elephas planifrons'' within the genus has also been questioned.<ref>H. Zhang [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwhvt5LOFro ''Elephas recki'': the wastebasket?] 66th Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy, Manchester. (2018)</ref> The earliest fossils of the ancestor of the modern Asian elephant, ''[[Elephas hysudricus]]'' date to the beginning of the Pleistocene, around 2.6 million years ago, with remains found on the Indian subcontinent.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Lister |first1=Adrian M. |last2=Dirks |first2=Wendy |last3=Assaf |first3=Amnon |last4=Chazan |first4=Michael |last5=Goldberg |first5=Paul |last6=Applbaum |first6=Yaakov H. |last7=Greenbaum |first7=Nathalie |last8=Horwitz |first8=Liora Kolska |date=September 2013 |title=New fossil remains of Elephas from the southern Levant: Implications for the evolutionary history of the Asian elephant |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S003101821300237X |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |language=en |volume=386 |pages=119–130 |bibcode=2013PPP...386..119L |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.05.013|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Modern Asian elephants had evolved from ''E. hysrudicus'' by the [[Late Pleistocene]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ma |first1=Jiao |last2=Wang |first2=Yuan |last3=Jin |first3=Changzhu |last4=Hu |first4=Yaowu |last5=Bocherens |first5=Hervé |date=May 2019 |title=Ecological flexibility and differential survival of Pleistocene Stegodon orientalis and Elephas maximus in mainland southeast Asia revealed by stable isotope (C, O) analysis |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379118309648 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=212 |pages=33–44 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.03.021|bibcode=2019QSRv..212...33M |s2cid=135056116 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>