Mammuthus creticus

Discoveries

The type locality is Cape Malekas on the Akrotiri peninsula northeast of Chania, which probably dates to the Early Pleistocene or early Middle Pleistocene. Other possible remains have been reported from Koutalas Cave to the west.

Description

Mammuthus creticus is only known from fragmentary remains, including molar teeth, an incisor, a humerus, rib fragments, and a partial vertebra. With an estimated shoulder height of about 1 m and with a weight estimated at 310 kg or 180 kg, it was the smallest mammoth that ever existed, and among the smallest elephantids along with the comparably sized dwarf elephants Palaeoloxodon falconeri of Sicily and Malta and Palaeoloxodon cypriotes of Cyprus. Its size reduction was the result of insular dwarfism, where the body size of large mammals on islands reduces as the result of decreased food availability, predation and competition.

Taxonomy

The species was originally described as Elephas creticus by Dorothea Bate in 1907, who noted its similarity to Elephas meridionalis (now Mammuthus meridionalis). After DNA research published in 2006, it was proposed to rename Elephas creticus into Mammuthus creticus (Bate, 1907). Others proposed (in 2002) to rename all the described specimens of larger size under the new subspecies name Elephas antiquus creutzburgi (Kuss, 1965). A 2007 study criticised the results of the 2006 DNA study, showing that the DNA research was likely flawed. However, morphological data supports a placement in Mammuthus. It probably derived from Mammuthus meridionalis, or less likely, Mammuthus rumanus.

Ecology

Mammuthus creticus was one of only three mammal species native to Crete during the Early Pleistocene and the early Middle Pleistocene, alongside the dwarf hippopotamus Hippopotamus creutzburgi and the giant rat Kritimys.

References

References

1. (2022). "The Fossil Record of Insular Endemic Mammals from Greece". Springer International Publishing.
2. (2010-01-01). "A new late Pleistocene mammal locality from western Crete". Δελτίον της Ελληνικής Γεωλογικής Εταιρίας.
3. Sen, Sevket. (2017-08-01). "A review of the Pleistocene dwarfed elephants from the Aegean islands, and their paleogeographic context". Fossil Imprint.
4. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.
5. (2012). "Extreme insular dwarfism evolved in a mammoth". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
6. (2006). "Ancient DNA forces reconsideration of evolutionary history of Mediterranean pygmy elephantids". Biology Letters.
7. (2002). "Origin and taxonomy of the fossil elephants of the island of Crete (Greece): problems and perspectives". Elsevier BV.
8. Orlando, L.. (2007-02-22). "Does the 43bp sequence from an 800000 year old Cretan dwarf elephantid really rewrite the textbook on mammoths?". [[Biology Letters]].