Proboscideans

Proboscidea Temporal range: Paleocene-Holocene 60.0–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
African bush elephant, Loxodonta africana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Class:	Mammalia
Clade:	Tethytheria
Order:	Proboscidea Illiger, 1810
see below
Elephantidae †Choerolophodontidae †Hemimastodontidae †Amebelodontidae †Gomphotheriidae †Mammutidae †Stegodontidae †Barytheriidae †Deinotheriidae †Moeritheriidae †Numidotheriidae †Palaeomastodontidae †Phiomiidae

Elephantidae
†Choerolophodontidae †Hemimastodontidae
†Amebelodontidae
†Gomphotheriidae
†Mammutidae
†Stegodontidae
†Barytheriidae
†Deinotheriidae
†Moeritheriidae
†Numidotheriidae
†Palaeomastodontidae
†Phiomiidae

The Proboscidea (from the Greek προβοσκίς and the Latin proboscis) are a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family, Elephantidae, and several extinct families. This order, first described by J. Illiger in 1811, encompasses the trunked mammals. Later proboscideans are distinguished by tusks and long, muscular trunks; these features are less developed or absent in early proboscideans. Proboscidea may have produced the largest land mammal of all time in the form of Palaeoloxodon namadicus, which may have weighed up to 22 t (24 short tons), with a shoulder height of up to 5.2 metres (17 ft), surpassing several sauropod dinosaurs.