''Mammuthus africanavus'' (literally, "African ancestor mammoth") is a species of

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...

known from remains spanning the

Late Pliocene Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * Late (The 77s album), ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudo ...

Early Pleistocene The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial epoch (geology), sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently esti ...

found in Central and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

in the countries of Chad, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. It was originally described by Camille Arambourg in 1952 based on remains found around Lake Ichkeul in north Tunisia as a species of ''

Elephas ''Elephas'' is a genus of elephants and one of two surviving genera in the Family (biology), family Elephantidae, comprising one extant species, the Asian elephant (''E. maximus''). Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to t ...

'' (which contains the living

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living ''Elephas'' species. It is the largest living land animal in Asia and the second largest living Elephantidae, elephantid in the world. It is char ...

).'''' Some specimens from this sample may genuinely represent ''Elephas'' rather than ''Mammuthus,'' though the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

has been argued to likely represent a true mammoth. Some authors have argued that the species should be placed in '' Loxodonta'' (which contains living African elephants), reflecting the difficulty in distinguishing the teeth of early elephantids.'''' It is distinguished from the earlier '' Mammuthus subplanifrons'' by having a higher number of ridges/lamellae on the teeth (around 9-10 on the third molars), which display a greater parallelity, the molars being more hypsodont (high crowned),'''' with the molars having a greater amount of cementum and thinner enamel, and the molar plates exhibit closer spacing. The species is primarily known from dental remains. The skull and lower jaws of an old adult male mammoth, now apparently lost, referred to ''M. africanavus'', has been reported from Garet et Tir, Algeria, dating to the Late Pliocene. The specimen, though somewhat damaged and distorted when described unambiguously represents a mammoth, with a tall skull over in height with an especially short basicranium, and narrow

palate The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly sep ...

. The specimen had twisted tusks at least long, which were narrowly separated from each other in their elongate tusk sheaths/sockets/alveoli, but sharply diverged from each other following their emergence from the skull. The skull was described by Maglio (1973) as similar to that of the primitive Eurasian mammoth species '' Mammuthus meridionalis.'' Specimens intermediate between ''M. subplanifrons'' and ''M. africanavus'' have been reported from the Late Pliocene Hadar Formation, Ethiopia, dating to around 3.5 million years ago. The oldest specimens of ''M. africanavus'' date to around 3.5-3 million years ago, while the youngest specimen dates to around 2.32-2 million years ago.'''' At Aïn Boucherit in Algeria during the Early Pleistocene, the species lived alongside members of the genus ''

Hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

'', rhinoceroses belonging to the genus '' Ceratotherium'' (which contains the living

white rhinoceros The white rhinoceros, also known as the white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum''), is the largest extant species of rhinoceros and the most Sociality, social of all rhino species, characterized by its wide mouth adapted f ...

), the suid (pig) '' Kolpochoerus,'' equines belonging to the genus '' Equus'' and '' Hipparion,'' the giant giraffid '' Sivatherium,'' the gomphothere '' Anancus,'' bovines, antelopes ('' Gazella, Kobus, Damaliscus, Megalotragus, Parmularius, Oreonagor'' and '' Parantidorcas'') and canines (''

Canis ''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant taxon, extant species, such as Wolf, wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-develo ...

Vulpes '' Vulpes '' is a genus of the subfamily Caninae. The members of this genus are colloquially referred to as true foxes, meaning they form a proper clade. The word "fox" occurs in the common names of all species of the genus, but also appears in ...

'').

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q512598 Mammoths Pliocene proboscideans Pliocene mammals of Africa Fossils of Morocco Fossils of Libya Fossils of Tunisia