Palaeoloxodon cypriotes
Cyprus dwarf elephant Temporal range:
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Tooth | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Proboscidea |
Family: | Elephantidae |
Genus: | †Palaeoloxodon |
Species: | †P. cypriotes
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Binomial name | |
†Palaeoloxodon cypriotes (Bate, 1904)
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Palaeoloxodon cypriotes is an extinct species of
Chronology
The Cyprus dwarf elephant is known from fossils dating from the early
Description
Palaeoloxodon cypriotes was around 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall, amongst the smallest known for dwarf elephants alongside the Sicillian Palaeoloxodon falconeri.[5] The estimated body weight of P. cypriotes is only 200 kilograms (440 lb), a weight reduction of 98% from its ancestors which weighed about 10 tonnes. Their molars however were about 40% of the size of the mainland straight-tusked elephants' molars (with the teeth around the size of the milk molars of P. antiquus), which retained the same length-width ratio, but with reduced lamellae counts, with only 11 lamellae in the third molar as opposed to 18 in mainland P. antiquus.[6] The size reduction was the result of insular dwarfism, which is likely the result of the reduction in available food, predation and competition.[7]
Paleoecology
Cyprus exhibited a depauperate fauna during the Late Pleistocene, with the only other large mammal species being the Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus, with the only other terrestrial mammal species being the Cypriot mouse (which is still extant), and a species of genet (Genetta plesictoides).[7]
Excavations
The first recorded find was by Dorothea Bate in a cave in the
Notes
- .
- ^ S2CID 199107354.
- ^ "Palaeloxodon cypriotes, the dwarf elephant of Cyprus: Size and scaling comparisons with P. falconeri (Sicily-Malta) and mainland P. antiquus (PDF Download Available)". Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^ "Dwarf Elephants - Planet Earth Online - So the smaller teeth are actually the teeth of younger elephants". thenakedscientists. 6 March 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^ .
- ^ P. Davies, A.M. Lister (2001) Palaeoloxodon cypriotes, the dwarf elephant of Cyprus: size and scaling comparisons with P. falconeri (Sicily-Malta) and mainland P. antiquus
- ^ S2CID 199107354.
- Proceedings of the Royal Society of LondonVol. 71 (1902–1903), pp. 498–500
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character, Vol. 197 (1905), pp. 347–360
- Folklore, Vol. 87, No. 1 (1976), pp. 89–95
References
- Davies, P., & Lister, A. M., Palaeoloxodon cypriotes, the dwarf elephant of Cyprus: size and scaling comparisons with P. falconeri (Sicily-Malta) and mainland P. antiquus in Cavarretta et al., op. cit. pp. 479–480
- Masseti, M., Did endemic dwarf elephants survive on Mediterranean islands up to protohistorical times? in Cavarretta, Gioia, Mussi & Palombo, La terra degli Elefanti, The World of Elephants (Rome, 2001) pp. 402–406
- Palombo, M. R., Endemic elephants of the Mediterranean Islands: knowledge, problems and perspectives in Cavarretta et al., op. cit.
- Simmons, Alan H. (1999). Faunal extinction in an island society: pygmy hippopotamus hunters of Cyprus. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. OCLC 41712246.