- Mammuthus meridionalis
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Mammuthus meridionalis
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene
Skeleton of Mammuthus meridionalis, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris Conservation status PrehistoricScientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Proboscidea Family: Elephantidae Genus: Mammuthus Species: M. meridionalis Binomial name Mammuthus meridionalis
(Nesti, 1825)Mammuthus meridionalis is an extinct species of mammoth endemic to Europe and central Asia from the Pleistocene, living from 2.5–0.126 mya existing for approximately 2.374 million years.[1]
Restoration
Mammuthus meridionalis molarWith a height of 4.50 m (15 ft), M. meridionalis is one of the largest proboscids to have ever lived, along with other larger species of mammoth, and the earlier Deinotherium. M. meridionalis was one of the first species of mammoths and resembled a huge Asian elephant with larger tusks. It would have been adapted to a cool climate, but not to truly icy conditions, and may have been the ancestor of later, more specialised, species such as the woolly mammoth.[2]
A well-preserved skeleton of Mammuthus meridionalis that is believed to be about one million years old has been unearthed in Kostolac, Serbia near the Viminacium archeological site.[3]
References
- ^ PaleoBiology Database: Mammuthus meridionalis, basic info
- ^ Palmer, D., ed (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 244. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
- ^ http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/06/04/preserved-mammoth.html
External links
Media related to Mammuthus meridionalis at Wikimedia Commons
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