Palaeoloxodon jolensis

Palaeoloxodon jolensis, often historically misspelled iolensis, is an extinct species of elephant known only from isolated molars, regarded either as the descendant or as the last evolutionary stage of Palaeoloxodon recki in Africa. Its remains are found across Africa, including Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa and Kenya, and are largely poorly dated to approximately the late Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene, though the only well dated East African specimens are over 130,000 years old. Like P. recki it is thought to have been a dedicated grazer, distinguished from earlier P. recki by greater tooth crown height and enamel folding, although isotopic evidence suggests some browse. The type specimen is in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The extinction of the lineage has been attributed either to the increasing aridification of Africa or to the growing sophistication of human hunters, and the modern African bush elephant replaced it. Originally placed in Elephas, it is now placed in Palaeoloxodon.