Fossils of Loxodonta adaurora have only been found in Africa, where they developed in the Pliocene.

[1] L. adaurora was presumed to be the genetic antecedent of the two modern African elephant species;[2] however, an analysis in 2009 suggested that L. africana evolved from L.

[3] The same study concluded that Loxodonta adaurora was morphologically indistinguishable from Mammuthus subplanifrons and that these constituted the same species probably within the mammoth lineage.

[3] However, other authors have continued to consider L. adaurora a valid species of Loxodonta, with some considering it an early morph of Loxodonta exoptata.

This article about a prehistoric proboscidean is a stub.