Primelephas

Primelephas is an extinct genus of primitive elephantid that lived in Africa during the Late Miocene to early Pliocene c. 7.2-4 million years ago, with fossils having been found in Kenya, Ethiopia, Chad, Uganda and Tanzania. The name of the genus suggests 'first elephant'.

Primelephas

Antonio Rares Mihaila · CC0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ElephantinaePBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Elephantidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Elephantidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 21 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 23.04 Mya and 2.58 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Oligocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesMiocene — about 17 of 30 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 13 of 30 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 30 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.9–9.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.2–8.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences8.5–7.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.1–6.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences6.4–5.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences5.7–4.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.8–2.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23.5 Mya2.1 Mya

30 occurrences of Primelephas on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

30 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Adu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EAdu-Asa — 10.43°N, 40.42°EWembere-Manonga — 3.88°S, 33.72°EWembere-Manonga — 3.09°S, 33.73°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.88°N, 36.07°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°ELukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°ELothagam 1 — 2.88°N, 36.07°EOluka — 1.00°N, 30.50°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Primelephas has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Primelephas and its relatives

Miocene

Where Primelephas and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

320 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 28 sites for Primelephas, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

15 references

Each of the 30 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 3 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Primelephas

Credit
Antonio Rares Mihaila
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Primelephas was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itElephantinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Maglio 1970