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Early Elephantidae of Africa and a Tentative Correlation of African Plio-Pleistocene Deposits

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Abstract

Several phyletic lines of Elephantidae were derived from a common gomphotheriid ancestor in the late Pliocene of Africa. These lines evolved at different rates, passing through similar stages at different times as reflected in the morphology of the molar teeth. Comparisons of the many remains of fossil elephants in sediments of Plio-Pleistocene age in Africa allow a lineage specific identification of the fossils and thus provide a means of stratigraphically correlating these deposits.

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MAGLIO, V. Early Elephantidae of Africa and a Tentative Correlation of African Plio-Pleistocene Deposits. Nature 225, 328–332 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/225328a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/225328a0

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