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''Palaeoloxodon'' is an extinct genus that contains the various species of straight-tusked elephant. Its species' remains have been found in Bilzingsleben, Germany; Cyprus; Japan; Sicily; Malta; and in England during the excavation of the second Channel Tunnel. The English discovery, in 2006 in northwest Kent, dated c. 400,000 ybp, was of a single adult; associated with it were Palaeolithic stone butchering tools of the type used by ''Homo heidelbergensis''.〔 One species, ''Palaeoloxodon namadicus'', was the largest known land mammal of all time. ==Taxonomy== ''Palaeoloxodon'' was previously thought to be a subgenus of ''Elephas'', but this was abandoned by 2007.〔 It is more closely related to the Asian Elephant than the Asian is to the two species of African elephants in genus ''Loxodonta''. ''Palaeoloxodon'' is known informally as the "straight-tusked elephant" because of the straight tusks of ''Palaeoloxodon antiquus''. Some notable species are: * ''P. antiquus'' (Europe, Middle east, Asia), was a bit larger than the modern African elephant * ''P. chaniensis'' (Crete), dwarf elephant * ''P. cypriotes'' (Cyprus), dwarf elephant * ''P. falconeri'' (Sicily and Malta), dwarf elephant * ''P. mnaidriensis'' (Sicily), dwarf elephant * ''P. namadicus'' (Asia) * ''P. naumanni'' (Southern Japan), dwarf elephant and possible subspecies of ''E. namadicus'' * ''P. recki'' (east Africa), the oldest (4.0 - 0.6 million years ago) and one of the largest species〔Turner, A. (2004) ''Prehistoric Mammals.'' Larousse〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Palaeoloxodon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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