Proboscidea

Proboscidea; Fossil range: 60–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Late Paleocene – Recent
	; African Bush Elephant, Loxodonta africana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia;
Phylum:	Chordata;
Class:	Mammalia;
Infraclass:	Eutheria;
Superorder:	Afrotheria;
Order:	Proboscidea; Illiger, 1811
Groups
	†Jozaria; †Anthracobunidae; †Moeritheriidae; Euproboscidea sineria †Numidotheriidae †Barytheriidae †Deinotheriidae Elephantiformes †Palaeomastodontidae †Hemimastodontidae Euelephantoidea †Choerolophodontidae †Amebelodontidae †Gnathabelodontidae †Gomphotheriidae Elephantidae †Mammutidae †Stegodontidae

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For the plant genus, see Proboscidea (genus).

Proboscidea is an order containing one living family, Elephantidae, and the two extinct families, the Gomphotheriidae (a subfamily of Elephantoidea) and the Mammutidae. The Elephantidae family contains three living species (the African Bush Elephant, African Forest Elephant, and Asian Elephant) and the now extinct Mammoth species. The Mammutidae family contains the species Mastodon.^[1]

During the period of the last ice age, some of the species that are now extinct included the genus of elephants Mammuthus (mammoths) and the elephant relatives the mastodons. Going further back in time, in the late Tertiary, species living at that time included the "shovel tuskers" like Platybelodon and Amebelodon. The earliest known proboscidean is Eritherium^[2], followed by Phosphatherium, both dating from Paleocene deposits of Morocco. From the Eocene, several very primitive proboscideans are known, including the African Numidotherium, Barytherium, Moeritherium and the Anthracobunidae from the Indian subcontinent.