{{Short description|Extinct species of elephant}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = Middle Pleistocene | image = Elephas beyeri.png | image_caption = Photographs of the now lost holotype and only known specimen, viewed from above (top) and from the side (below) | extinct = yes | genus = Elephas | species = beyeri | authority = von Koenigwald, 1956 }}
'''''Elephas beyeri''''' is an extinct species of elephantid known from the Middle Pleistocene of the Philippines.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=de Ocampo|first=Roberto SP.|date=1983|title=Plio-Pleistocene Geology of Bolinao. Pangasinan and Vicinities|url=https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/img/Geological-Papers-02-Plio-Pleistocene-Geology-of-Bolinao-Pangasinan-and-Vicinities-1983.pdf|journal=Geological Papers|publisher=National Museum of the Philippines|volume=2|access-date=2021-08-01|archive-date=2021-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801181657/https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/img/Geological-Papers-02-Plio-Pleistocene-Geology-of-Bolinao-Pangasinan-and-Vicinities-1983.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was named after the anthropologist H. Otley Beyer.<ref>{{cite book | title=Philippine History | publisher=Rex Bookstore, Inc. | year=2004 | pages=7 | isbn=9789712339349}}</ref> The type and only known specimen, a partial cheek tooth, was discovered on Cabarruyan Island off the coast of Luzon, but has since been lost.
== Description== right|thumb|Map of the fossil site; Cabarruyan (Anda) island, Pangasinan in highlight. The type specimen of the species is a partial cheek tooth from the lower jaw that has since been lost''.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=van der Geer |first=Alexandra |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444323986 |title=Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands |last2=Lyras |first2=George |last3=de Vos |first3=John |last4=Dermitzakis |first4=Michael |date=2010-08-13 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-9009-1 |edition=1 |language=en |chapter=The Philippines |doi=10.1002/9781444323986 |pages=220, 223}}</ref> It has often been suggested that ''Elephas beyeri'' was a dwarf elephant with an estimated stature of {{Convert|1.2|m|ft}} in shoulder height, based on the assumption that the tooth represents a molar.<ref name=":0" /> However, a 2025 conference abstract suggested that the tooth may represent a deciduous fourth premolar instead, which if true would place the idea that ''E. beyeri'' represents a dwarf elephant into doubt.<ref name=":1">M.U. Tablizo, G.D. van den Bergh, and A.G.S. Fernando [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_lWQZ5bENbPClCHkA2p4dhz7aeLHxZkX/view Revisiting the Pleistocene elephant fossils from Luzon island, Philippines: ''Elephas'', ''Palaeoloxodon'' or ''Mammuthus''?] (2025) 5th Palaeontological Virtual Congress p. 80</ref>
==Taxonomy== During its naming, von Koenigswald proposed that ''E. beyeri'' was descended from ''Elephas namadicus'' (now generally placed in ''Palaeoloxodon'').<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Koenigswald|first=G.H.R.|date=1956|title=Fossil mammals from the Philippines|journal=Proceedings of the Fourth Far-Eastern Prehistory Congress}}</ref> It was thought by von Koenigswald that these animals crossed from the mainland Asia to the Philippines via land bridge connecting with Taiwan. This, however, is still debated but a study in 2021 showed an evidence of the possibility.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Antoine|first1=Pierre-Olivier|last2=Reyes|first2=Marian|last3=Amano|first3=Noel|last4=Bautista|first4=Angel|last5=Chang|first5=Chun-Hsiang|last6=Claude|first6=Julien|last7=de Vos|first7=John|last8=Ingicco|first8=Thomas|date=2021|title=A new rhinoceros clade from the Pleistocene of Asia sheds light on mammal dispersals to the Philippines|url=https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab009/6280384|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|volume=194 |issue=2 |pages=416–430 |doi=10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab009}}</ref> Aside from the missing initial specimen, more elephantid remains were unearthed in 2001 in the same locality.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ronquillo|first=Wilfredo|title=Philippine Terrestrial Archaeology (1998-2001) and Future Trends in Philippine Archaeological Research|date=2003|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29792517|journal=Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society|volume=31|issue=1/2|pages=98–118|jstor=29792517}}</ref> Further elephant remains were found in the Visayas and at a number of sites in Luzon, particularly the Cagayan Valley region in the northern part of the island. But it is unclear if these belonged to ''E. beyeri'' or ''P. namadicus'' due to their fragmented nature and the missing holotype. It might be even argued that the Visayan fossils were different from the elephant species harbored in Greater Luzon.<ref>{{cite book | title=Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands | publisher=John Wiley & Sons |author1=Alexandra van der Geer |author2=George Lyras |author3=John de Vos |author4=Michael Dermitzakis | year=2011 | pages=223 | isbn=9781444391282}}</ref> A 2025 conference abstract found that based on analysis of archival data, the holotype and only undoubted ''E. beyeri'' specimen does not have any synapomorphies of ''Palaeoloxodon'', and suggested that it could potentially have mammoth affinities instead due to its tooth morphology resembling those of mammoths, but the authors advised against reclassifying the species, given the loss of the holotype specimen. The authors suggested that other remains of elephants found on Luzon and surrounding islands (with the Cagayan Valley material dating to the late Early Pleistocene, sometime between around 1.7 and 0.8 million years ago) could probably relatively confidently placed in ''Elephas'', the genus of the living Asian elephant, and belonged to relatively large animals with cheek teeth roughly equivalent in size to Asian elephants, rather than to strongly dwarfed elephants.<ref name=":1" />
== References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q24884054}} Category:Elephas Category:Prehistoric proboscideans Category:Fossil taxa described in 1956 Category:Extinct elephants