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| Mammuthus meridionalis | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mammuthus meridionalis |
| Fossil range | Early Pleistocene |
| Genus | Mammuthus |
| Species | meridionalis |
| Authority | (Nesti, 1825) |
Mammuthus meridionalis is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Early Pleistocene and is known from abundant Eurasian and African fossil remains. First recognized in the 19th century, it occupies a pivotal position in studies of Pleistocene megafauna, paleoclimatology, biogeography and Quaternary paleontology. Specimens have informed research programs at institutions such as the Natural History Museum, the British Museum, the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, and the University of Florence.
Mammuthus meridionalis was named by Giuseppe Nesti in the 19th century following comparisons with fossil proboscideans recovered near Florence, Tuscany, and later material from sites associated with the Grand Tour and collections at the Uffizi Gallery, the British Museum, and the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze. Early taxonomic work involved correspondence and specimen exchanges among paleontologists connected to the Geological Society, the Linnean Society, the Paleontological Society and institutions like the Smithsonian Institution, the Institut de Paléontologie, and the Zoological Museum of Saint Petersburg. Subsequent revisions were influenced by comparative anatomy studies by Georges Cuvier, Richard Owen, and Othniel Charles Marsh, and later systematics incorporating methods developed at the American Museum of Natural History, the Natural History Museum Vienna, and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. Type specimens and neotype proposals have involved curators from the British Museum of Natural History, the Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano, and research groups affiliated with the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.
Mammuthus meridionalis is characterized by large body size, columnar limbs, and molar dental morphology intermediate between earlier gomphothere-like proboscideans and later woolly mammoths studied at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Osteological comparisons have been made with specimens curated at the Field Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museo Geologico Giovanni Capellini, while cranial and mandibular features were described in monographs circulated through the Geological Survey of Italy and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Molar plate counts, enamel thickness, and crown height were quantified using methods established by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the University of Tübingen, and the University of Zurich. Limb proportions inferred from articulated skeletons stored at the Museo di Storia Naturale di Verona and the Natural History Museum, London, suggest a tall, relatively gracile proboscidean that contrasts with later, more heavily furred taxa held in collections at the Staatliche Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden.
The species occupies a basal position in mammoth phylogenies produced by teams at institutions such as the University of Copenhagen, the University of Bergen, and the University of Potsdam, and its relationships have been tested against taxa described from deposits curated at the Museo Nacional de Antropología, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, and the University of California Museum of Paleontology. Phylogenetic matrices incorporating characters from specimens in the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Senckenberg Research Institute suggest M. meridionalis is ancestral to later Mammuthus species discussed in work from the University of Toronto, the University of Barcelona, and the University of Rome. Molecular attempts drawing on collagen proteomics and mitochondrial DNA recovered by teams at the University of Copenhagen, the Centre for Geogenetics, and the Max Planck Society have informed debates involving researchers at Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of Cambridge.
Fossils of M. meridionalis have been reported from localities across Europe and parts of North Africa, cataloged in databases maintained by the Natural History Museum London, the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, and the British Geological Survey, and from Mediterranean sites excavated by teams affiliated with the University of Florence, the University of Montpellier, and the University of Barcelona. Notable localities include deposits associated with the Thames River studied by the Geological Society of London, the Somme Basin excavations with oversight from the Musée de Picardie, and Iberian sites under the auspices of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions using pollen data analyzed at the University of Stockholm, the University of Helsinki, and the University of Bern indicate M. meridionalis inhabited mixed woodland, parkland, and steppe zones comparable to reconstructed habitats assembled by researchers at the University of Leiden, the University of Bologna, and the University of Ljubljana.
Interpretations of M. meridionalis ecology draw on taphonomic studies coordinated by the Institute of Paleobiology, the British Natural History Museum, and the Institut de Paléontologie humaine, and on analogies with extant and extinct proboscideans investigated at institutions such as the Zoological Society of London, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Social structure hypotheses reference comparative work on elephantid behavior published by researchers at the World Wildlife Fund, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Save the Elephants organization, and tracking of herd movements is inferred from stratigraphic associations reported by the Geological Survey of France, the Spanish National Research Council, and the Polish Academy of Sciences. Evidence for age structure and sex-specific morphology derives from collections curated at the University of Naples Federico II, the University of Munich, and the Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia.
Dental microwear, mesowear, and isotopic analyses conducted by laboratories at the Max Planck Institute, the University of Bristol, and the University of Cambridge indicate a predominantly browsing to mixed-feeding diet in environments reconstructed by paleoecologists at the University of Oxford, the University of Leeds, and the University of Sheffield. Stable isotope data compared across European sites cataloged by the British Antarctic Survey, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Glasgow suggest seasonal foraging patterns consistent with studies by the University of Bern, the University of Zurich, and the University of Lausanne. Functional morphology of the trunk and tusks, examined by researchers at the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan, and the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico "Luigi Pigorini", supports use of the proboscis in vegetation manipulation comparable to behaviors documented by the Zoological Society of London and the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
Mammuthus meridionalis disappears from the fossil record during climatic shifts of the Early to Middle Pleistocene documented by stratigraphers at the International Union for Quaternary Research, the British Geological Survey, and the Institut Mines-Télécom. The species' decline is recorded in faunal lists curated by the Museo de La Rioja, the National Museum of Natural History of Paris, and the Museo Geominero, and is interpreted in light of competition scenarios proposed by paleontologists at the University of Salamanca, the University of Barcelona, and the University of Seville. Major collections housing significant specimens include the Natural History Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze, the Senckenberg Museum, and the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, which continue to support research by teams at the Max Planck Institute, the Centre for Paleogenetics, and the University of Copenhagen.
Category:Prehistoric proboscideans