Late Quaternary biogeography and extinction of Proboscideans in North America

Abstract

North America supported one of the highest diversities of proboscideans in one of the smallest areas during the late Pleistocene (10-20 ka). There were at least four different genera (Mammut, Mammuthus, Haplomastodon, and Cuvieronius). All of these genera were monospecific except for Mammuthus with four different species (M. columbi, M. jeffersonii, M. primigenius, and M. exilis). None of these proboscideans had a continental wide distribution at the end of the Pleistocene. In fact, during full glacial times when continental ice covered most of northern North America, all four proboscidean genera inhabited areas south of the ice sheet that were smaller than the geographic range of either of the living elephant genera (Loxodonta and Elephas).