Palaeoloxodon huaihoensis
| Palaeoloxodon huaihoensis Temporal range:
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.JPG)
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| Skeleton of Palaeoloxodon huaihoensis at National Museum of Natural Science, Taiwan | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Proboscidea |
| Family: | Elephantidae |
| Genus: | †Palaeoloxodon |
| Species: | †P. huaihoensis
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| Binomial name | |
| †Palaeoloxodon huaihoensis Liu, 1977
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Palaeoloxodon huaihoensis is an extinct species of elephant belonging to the genus Palaeoloxodon known from the Pleistocene of China.
Taxonomy
[edit]It was first named a subspecies of P. naumanni (which is principally known from material found in Japan) by J. Liu in 1977 based on a partial skeleton from Huaiyuan, Anhui,[1] and was later elevated to species rank by G. Qi in 1999, who also included other Chinese Palaeoloxodon remains within species, including the abundant remains found in the Penghu Channel between the Penghu archipelago and Taiwan.[2][3] Material from the Pengu Channel sample predominantly represents adult individuals.[4] A mostly complete adult skull (IVPP V4443) from Late Pleistocene Nihewan basin in Hebei may be referrable to this species.[3]
Description
[edit]The body size is very large, comparable to Indian Palaeoloxodon namadicus and the European straight-tusked elephant (P. antiquus), and much larger than Japanese specimens of Palaeoloxodon naumanni,[3] with specimens from the Penghu Channel and Taiwan estimated to reach shoulder heights of over 4 metres (13 ft) and body masses over 13 tonnes (29,000 lb).[5] While historically Chinese Palaeoloxodon remains were attributed to Palaeoloxodon namadicus, Chinese Palaeoloxodon remains display notable anatomical differences from Indian P. namadicus. In comparison to Indian P. namadicus, the postcranial skeleton is substantially more robust, and greatly resembles that of P. antiquus. The morphology of IVPP V4443 is also overall more similar to that of P. antiquus than P. namadicus, but the parietal-occipital crest at the top of the skull displays a very robust morphology closer to that of P. namadicus. Chinese Palaeoloxodon skulls also lack the infraorbital depression behind the eye socket found in P. namadicus individuals.[3]
Distribution
[edit]Remains of Palaeoloxodon are widespread in China, ranging from Northeast China to Xinjiang in the northwest to Hainan and Yunnan in the south, though most remains of Palaeoloxodon in China are from the North China Plain region.[6]
Evolution and extinction
[edit]The oldest remains of Palaeoloxodon in North China date to the early Middle Pleistocene, around 700,000 years ago.[7] The latest dates for Palaeoloxodon in China are from the Late Pleistocene, and a Holocene survival is not substantiated,[8] though the actual timing of extinction is uncertain due to a lack of reliable dating.[6] Mitochondrial genomes retrieved from Chinese Palaeoloxodon individuals from North China reveal that like the European P. antiquus, they harboured mitochondrial lineages derived from those of African forest elephants as a result of hybridisation with that species prior to Palaeoloxodon leaving Africa.[6] The close relationship between the mitochondrial genomes of a Chinese Palaeoloxodon and a European P. antiquus individual suggests that there may have been gene flow between the two populations following their initial divergence.[6]
Diagram of the relationships of elephant mitochondrial genomes, after Lin et al. 2023.[6]
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References
[edit]- ^ J. Liu Palaeoloxodon from Huaiyuan District, northern part of Anhui Vertebr. Palasiat., 15 (1977), pp. 272-284
- ^ G. Qi On some problems of Palaeoloxodon of China (in Chinese with English Abstract) Y. Wang, T. Deng (Eds.), Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Chinese Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, China Ocean Press, Beijing (1999), pp. 201-210
- ^ a b c d Larramendi, Asier; Zhang, Hanwen; Palombo, Maria Rita; Ferretti, Marco P. (February 2020). "The evolution of Palaeoloxodon skull structure: Disentangling phylogenetic, sexually dimorphic, ontogenetic, and allometric morphological signals". Quaternary Science Reviews. 229: 106090. Bibcode:2020QSRv..22906090L. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106090. S2CID 213676377.
- ^ Kang, Jia-Cih; Lin, Chien-Hsiang; Chang, Chun-Hsiang (2021-04-14). "Age and growth of Palaeoloxodon huaihoensis from Penghu Channel, Taiwan: significance of their age distribution based on fossils". PeerJ. 9: e11236. doi:10.7717/peerj.11236. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 8052959. PMID 33954049.
- ^ Biswas, Deep Shubhra; Chang, Chun-Hsiang; Tsai, Cheng-Hsiu (July 2024). "Land of the giants: Body mass estimates of Palaeoloxodon from the Pleistocene of Taiwan". Quaternary Science Reviews. 336: 108761. Bibcode:2024QSRv..33608761B. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108761.
- ^ a b c d e Lin, Haifeng; Hu, Jiaming; Baleka, Sina; Yuan, Junxia; Chen, Xi; Xiao, Bo; Song, Shiwen; Du, Zhicheng; Lai, Xulong; Hofreiter, Michael; Sheng, Guilian (July 2023). "A genetic glimpse of the Chinese straight-tusked elephants". Biology Letters. 19 (7). doi:10.1098/rsbl.2023.0078. ISSN 1744-957X. PMC 10353889. PMID 37463654.
- ^ Jin, Changzhu; Wang, Yuan; Liu, Jinyuan; Ge, Junyi; Zhao, Bo; Liu, Jinyi; Zhang, Hanwen; Shao, Qingfeng; Gao, Chunling; Zhao, Keliang; Sun, Boyang; Qin, Chao; Song, Yayun; Jiangzuo, Qigao (2021-03-10). "Late Cenozoic mammalian faunal evolution at the Jinyuan Cave site of Luotuo Hill, Dalian, Northeast China". Quaternary International. 577: 15–28. Bibcode:2021QuInt.577...15J. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.01.011. ISSN 1040-6182.
- ^ Turvey, Samuel T.; Tong, Haowen; Stuart, Anthony J.; Lister, Adrian M. (September 2013). "Holocene survival of Late Pleistocene megafauna in China: a critical review of the evidence". Quaternary Science Reviews. 76: 156–166. Bibcode:2013QSRv...76..156T. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.06.030.