An overview of Palaeloxodon naumanni, the Palaeoloxodon (Elephantidae) of the far east: distribution, morphology and habitat

ABSTRACT

This paper summarizes previous studies of Palaeoloxodon naumanni, including stratigraphic distribution, chronology, morphological characteristics, taxonomy, habitat, and accompanying fauna. P. naumanni has been reported from over 300 sites on the Japanese Islands, ranging from 44° to 33° N latitude. Many of them have been dated by tephra stratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, or ¹⁴C dating. Based on the age-dated specimens, P. naumanni is thought to have lived in Japan from 340,000 to 26,000 years ago. Skeletal morphology of P. naumanni is well known. In particular, the skull has been identified as male and female. And the examination of the skulls indicate that Palaeoloxodon is an independent genus within Elephantinae, and also P. naumanni as an independent species within Palaeoloxodon. Based on the vegetation data obtained from P. naumanni localities and the co-existed animal species with P. naumanni indicate that it has inhabited mixed forests with deciduous broad-leaved trees and conifers in the temperate zone. During the latter half of the Late Pleistocene, when the mammoth fauna migrated southwards to Japan, the deciduous broad-leaved forests that were widespread in Honshu were inhabited by the fauna accompanied by P. naumanni. These two faunas repeatedly shifted north and south in response to global climatic changes.

KEYWORDS:

• Palaeoloxodon naumanni
• distribution
• morphology
• habitat
• Japanese Islands

Acknowledgments

I very much thank the editors, Drs. Yuan Wang, Qigao Jiangzuo, Boyang Sun and Hanwen Zhang, for inviting me to contribute to this special issue. National Museum of Nature and Science,Tokyo, Nojiriko Naumnn Elephant Museum and Hachioji City Board of Education gave permission to use photos of their collections, which were taken care of by Dr Yuri Kimura, Dr. Yoich Kondo and Mr.Shunichiro Fujimura. Dr. Naoto Handa provided relevant literatures. I also thank Ms. Satomi Tanaka and Dr. Robin Smith for improving English expression. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 18H01330.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2022.2132857

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the JSPS [18H01330].