Department of Biology, Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York 10577, USA.
Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2010 Jan;293(1):62-73. doi: 10.1002/ar.21011.
Few osteological descriptions of the extant elephants and no detailed morphological comparison of the two genera, Elephas and Loxodonta, have been done in recent years. In this study, 786 specimens of extant elephants (crania, mandibles, and molars) were examined for characters unique to each species. Differences between sexes in each species were described, as well as differences between subspecies of each species. Striking differences in morphology were noted between sexes of both elephants and between subspecies, which may complement current genetic studies, the focus of which is to determine division at the subspecies or species level, particularly differences between the savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) and the forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis). In addition, examination of the two living elephants provides an excellent dataset for identifying phylogenetic characters for use in examining evolutionary relationships within and between fossil lineages of elephantids.
近年来，鲜有对现存大象的骨骼学描述，也没有对 Elephas 和 Loxodonta 两个属的详细形态比较。在这项研究中，对 786 个现存大象标本（颅骨、下颌骨和臼齿）进行了检查，以确定每个物种特有的特征。描述了每个物种中雌雄之间的差异，以及每个物种亚种之间的差异。在两个大象物种和亚种之间，在形态上都注意到了明显的性别差异，这可能补充了当前的遗传研究，遗传研究的重点是确定亚种或物种水平的划分，特别是在草原象（Loxodonta africana africana）和森林象（Loxodonta africana cyclotis）之间的差异。此外，对这两种现存大象的检查为鉴定系统发育特征提供了极好的数据集，这些特征可用于检查象科化石谱系内和谱系之间的进化关系。
