Elephant Taxonomy

Salutations to Lord Ganesha, because in this blog I will be naming the taxa of elephants both alive and extinct. The cool things about elephants is that they were not always the giant creatures with a hand for a nose. They started off small but evolved to their current state. Even more remarkable was that their taxa were found even in northern Eurasia and the Americas until humans came on the scene and wiped them out. 

The Elephants belong to the order Proboscidea, which literally means "having a trunk", even though the earliest members of this order had no trunk. Therefore. a more neutral name will be chosen. I propose गज​, or elephant (without any reference to their trunks). 

 

Now before I continue, I want to name the clade formed by Deinotheriidae and Elephantiformes, because these set of elephants have an actual trunk proper. Therefore this clade will be called with the famous Sanskrit word: हस्तिन्.

Then the suborder Elephantiformes includes the relatives that include the modern elephants. I shall name them after Indra's elephant Airavat. Thus ऐरावताकृति. The next clade is Elephantimorpha, which include modern elephants, mastadons, and gomphotheres. I will use yet another Sanskrit word for this clade: कुञ्जर​ (lit. "tramples the earth"). The modern superfamily Elephantoidae is just: इभरूपिन्​. The Elephantidae family is वारणमय​​

Now we can name the specific lineages of Proboscidae properly. We will start with Eritherium. Because it is the oldest of the elephants, it will be पुराणगज​. The next is Phosphatherium, which is the next oldest. While it is named for being found in phosphorite beds, I will just call it "old elephant" or प्राच्यगज​. Daouitherium will similarly be called प्राचीनगज​.

Now Numidotherium actually had a very small trunk. Thus अल्पतुण्डिन्. Reconstructions of Barytherium resemble a hippo or rhinocerous, thus गण्डगज​. Arancotherium like the other primitive elephants resemble a pig, therefore, for a lack of a better name, कोलदृग्गज​. Now we have Omanitherium, which lived in what is now modern day Oman. Therefore, ओमानगज​. 

Saloumia is named for being found in the Saloum river. I will for now call it सालुमगज​. Moeritherium was found in modern day Egypt. Thus, for now, "Old Egypt elephant" or प्राङ्मिस्रगज​.

Now we get to the clade of हस्तिन्. The first is Deinotheriidae or "terrible beast". They were a basal trunk having elephants. They have downard curving lower tusks, thus न्युब्जरदिन् /न्युब्जाधोरदिन्. Next we have the Dagbatitherium, which for now I will partly calque as "Dagbati elephant" after the mines it was first found: दग्बतिगज​.

Now onto Elephantimorpha (ऐरावताकृति). The Mastodon I have already named as भूरिगज​, following my taxonomy rules. Another name could be चापदन्तिन्. Thus Mammutidae is भूरिगजमय/चापदन्तिमय. 

The Gomphotheres I have named as "four tusker" or चतुर्दम्ष्ट्रिन्. Thus Gomphotheridae is चतुर्दम्ष्ट्रिमय​. Some say these group of elephants are paraphyletic. Thus there are two families to construe. One is चतुर्दम्ष्ट्रिन् and another is चतूरदिन्.

The Amebelodontidae are a another family group, famous for their lower jaws being shovel like.  Thus "shovel tuskers"  or खात्ररदिमय​/खनित्ररदिमय​. The individual animal is just ​खात्ररदिन्/खनित्ररदिन्.

.Finally the superfamily Elephantoidae or the इभ​. The genus Tetralophodon is also four tusked so I will call it चतूरदनिन्. Now the modern Elephantidae, or वारणमय​. There are several genera in here. The first one is Stegoterabelodon, which has four straight tusks or ऋजुचतुर्दन्तिन्. We then have the famous mammoth which I have named as भीमगज​, but we can also call them "curved tusker" or वक्रदन्तिन्. They are closer to the living Asian elephants than to African elephants. The Asian Elephants are of the genus Elephas, which I will call as "relative of Vinayaka (Ganesha)" or विनायकबन्धु. The Loxodonta are the African Elephants, which I will call तेम्बविभ​. The first part is तेम्बो, which I borrowed from the KiSwahili word for elephant. Yes this is a pleonasm!

Summary:

Proboscidea: गज

Eritherium: पुराणगज

Phosphatherium: प्राच्यगज

Daouitherium: प्राचीनगज

Numidotherium: अल्पतुण्डिन्

Barytherium: गण्डगज

​Arancotherium: कोलदृग्गज

Omanitherium: ओमानगज

Saloumia: सालुमगज

Moeritherium: प्राङ्मिस्रगज

Clade of long trunk elephnants: हस्तिन्

​Deinotheriidae:  न्युब्जरदिमय​ /न्युब्जाधोरदिमय​.

Dagbatitherium: दग्बतिगज

Elephantimorpha: ऐरावताकृति

Mammutidae (mastadon family):भूरिगजमय/चापदन्तिमय

Gomphotheridae: चतुर्दम्ष्ट्रिमय (चतुर्दम्ष्ट्रिन् and चतूरदिन् if group is paraphyletic)

Amebelodontidae: खात्ररदिमय​/खनित्ररदिमय (individual animal is ​खात्ररदिन्/खनित्ररदिन्)

Elephantoidae: इभरूपिन्

Tetralophodon: चतूरदनिन्

Elephantidae: वारणमय

Stegoterabelodon: ऋजुचतुर्दन्तिन्

Loxodonta (African Elephants): तेम्बविभ

Elephas (Asian Elephants): विनायकबन्धु

Mammuthus (Mammoth):  भीमगज​ or वक्रदन्तिन्