Elephas beyeri

Elephas beyeri is an extinct species of elephantid known from the Middle Pleistocene of the Philippines, named after the anthropologist H. Otley Beyer. The type and only known specimen, a partial cheek tooth from the lower jaw, was discovered on Cabarruyan Island off the coast of Luzon and has since been lost. It has often been suggested that it was a dwarf elephant with a shoulder height of about 1.2 metres, on the assumption that the tooth is a molar, but a 2025 conference abstract suggested that it may be a deciduous fourth premolar, which would put the dwarf idea in doubt. Von Koenigswald proposed descent from Elephas namadicus, now generally placed in Palaeoloxodon, but the 2025 abstract found no features of Palaeoloxodon in the holotype and suggested possible mammoth affinities, while advising against reclassification. Other elephant remains from Luzon and the Visayas may belong to Elephas.