Mammuthus sungari
Songhua River mammoth
*SPECIAL NOTE* - Mammuthus sungari has now been
found to be a synonym
to Mammuthus
trogontherii (Steppe mammoth). This page remains
online
for archive purposes.
Name:
Mammuthus sungari
Phonetic: Mam-mu-fus sun-ga-ree.
Named By: M. Z. Zhou - 1959.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia,
Proboscidea, Elephantidae, Mammuthus.
Species: M. sungari.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Unavailable.
Known locations: China.
Time period: Mid Pleistocene.
Fossil representation: Few specimens.
For a little over fifty years Mammuthus sungari, perhaps better known as the Songhua River mammoth, has been regarded as being the largest known species of mammoth, and possibly the second largest terrestrial mammal of all time (the title of largest currently goes to Paraceratherium). However a 2010 study of known specimens (conducted by GuangBiao Wei, SongMei Hu, KeFu Yu, YaMei Hou, Xin Li, ChangZhu Jin, Yuan Wang, JianXin Zhao and WenHua Wang) has since concluded that smaller specimens of M. sungari are referable to M. primogenius (woolly mammoth) and the larger specimens are actually referable to M. trogontherii (Steppe mammoth). As such the future of M. sungari as a distinct species is now in doubt and its most likely that from now on M. trogontherii will be referred to as the largest mammoth species, which also means that M. trogontherii will also be considered to be larger than M. imperator (imperial mammoth) which was previously considered to be larger than M. trogontherii.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random favourites
 |
 |
 |