African Forest Elephant – Loxodonta cyclotis

Loxodonta cyclotisMatschie, 1900

Accepted name, Mammal Species of the World 2005

See Laursen and Bekoff (1978, Mammalian Species, 92), where cyclotis was treated as a subspecies of L. africana. Grubb et al. (2000) presented morphological and some molecular data in support of upgrading cyclotis to a species category, separate species from africana, corroborating earlier hypothesis that Loxodonta cyclotis and L. africana are distinct species. Further, Grubb et al. (2000) supported the hypothesis that L. cyclotis is morphologically more primitive than L. africana. Roca et al. (2001) provided genetic evidence for two species in Africa. Evidence provided by Debruyne (2003), however, suggests that the African Forest Elephant and the African Bush Elephant are only subspecifically distinct – this taxonomic question has not yet been resolved.

• Wilson, D and Reeder, D. (eds.) 2005. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 3rd ed. -- 2142 pp. Johns Hopkins University Press.