Classification
The family diverged from a common ancestor of the Elephantidae, which includes the extinct genus Mammuthus, the mammoths, and extant species of Elephas and Loxodonta, the modern elephants.
The author of Mammutidae also published Gomphotheriidae, which also includes species previously described as Mastodon. The classification of proboscideans is unstable and frequently revised, relationships within the order are controversial, and it is incompletely summarised as:
- Elephantimorpha
- Elephantida
- Elephantidae (elephants and mammoths)
- Gomphotheriidae (gomphotheres)
- Mammutida
- Mammutidae (mastodons)
- Eozygodon
- Zygolophodon
- Mammut
- Mammutidae (mastodons)
- Elephantida
Some earlier descriptions of specimens as Mastodon have been transferred to the two genera of Mammutidae.
Read more about this topic: Mammutidae