Dwarf elephant
There are many uncertainties about the time of colonisation, the phylogenetic relationships and the taxonomic status of dwarf elephants on the Mediterranean islands.
[5] Sicily and Malta were inhabited by two successive waves of dwarf elephants derived from P. antiquus, which first arrived on the islands at least 500,000 years ago.
[15] Remains of dwarf elephants have been briefly reported from Paros, Milos and Serifos in historical publications, but these lack any detailed information.
The age of the find was considered to be uncertain, likely older than 9,000 years, but could not be dated precisely due to a lack of collagen.
[15] On Naxos the species Palaeoloxodon lomolinoi has been described based on a partial skull including the maxilla bones and third molar teeth found near the Trypiti river, of probable Late Pleistocene age.
[15] On Rhodes, bones of an unnamed endemic dwarf elephant have been discovered in cave deposits on the east coast.
[21] This species was medium-sized, around 10% the size of P. antiquus, with a shoulder height of up to 1.9 metres (6.2 ft), with a body mass of 630–890 kilograms (1,390–1,960 lb).
[15] On Kasos, which during the Pleistocene was connected with the islands of Karpathos and Saria, a single dwarf Palaeoloxodon molar has been found.
Due to the tooth closely resembling those of the species P. creutzburgi from Crete (which is adjacent to Kasos) in size and shape, it has been referred to as P. aff.
It is also one of the smallest dwarf elephant species, comparable in size to P. falconeri, with an estimated shoulder height of 1 metre (3.3 ft).
The species likely evolved from the earlier larger (though still strongly dwarfed) Palaeoloxodon xylophagou known from fossils dating to around 200,000 years ago.
[24] Remains of the species were first discovered and recorded by Dorothea Bate in a cave in the Kyrenia hills of northern Cyprus in 1902 and reported in 1903.
[26][27] In Indonesia and the Philippines, evidence of a succession of distinct endemic island faunas has been found, including dwarfed elephants and species of Stegodon.
[28] During the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene on Sulawesi, two species of dwarf proboscidean coinhabited the island, the elephant Stegoloxodon celebensis, and Stegodon sompoensis.
[31] The former was about 150 cm (4.9 ft) tall,[32] while the latter was around 32% the size of mainland Stegodon species, with an estimated body mass of about a ton.
[29] Large individuals are estimated to have reached around 280 cm (9.2 ft) at the shoulders, with a body mass of around 5 tons.
[40] The extinct dwarf elephant Elephas beyeri is also known from the island of an unknown (probably Pleistocene) age,[29] which is estimated to have been about 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) in shoulder height.
[45] The latest and smallest species S. aurorae is estimated to be 25% the size of its mainland ancestor with a body mass of around 2,122 kilograms (4,678 lb).
[29] Competition with other herbivores is suggested to be important factor, resulting in a reduced level of dwarfism where they are present.
