Loxodonta atlantica

Loxodonta atlantica is an extinct species of elephant in the genus Loxodonta, which includes the living African elephants. It was larger than modern African elephants and had more progressive dentition. Its fossils include Pleistocene specimens from Ternifine in Algeria, Middle Pleistocene specimens from Elandsfontein in South Africa and Late Pliocene specimens from the Omo River in Ethiopia. It is suggested to have become extinct around 400,000 years ago, in the Middle Pleistocene. It is thought to have derived from Loxodonta adaurora or Loxodonta exoptata and is likely ancestral to the living African bush elephant, with which it coexisted during the Middle Pleistocene before its extinction. The species is divided into two subspecies, L. atlantica atlantica in northern Africa and L. atlantica zulu in southern Africa, and its type is housed in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.