A new elephant fossil from the late Pleistocene of Alghero: The puzzling question of Sardinian dwarf elephants

摘要: Abstract Endemic elephants, variously reduced in size, have been reported from a number of Mediterranean islands. Most these originated the mainland species Palaeoloxodon antiquus . A few dwarf mammoth remains are recorded Crete and Sardinia. In Sardinia, largely incomplete skeleton teeth localities believed to range age late middle Pleistocene. The chronology colonisation by ancestral species, actual persistence through time Mammuthus lamarmorai on island, morphological dimensional are, however, poorly known. This research aims describe distal portion left tibia elephant found Alghero area (NW Sardinia), showing some traits dimensions consistent with those endemic Sardinian ( ). main unanswered questions about chronology, population dynamics elephants highlighted briefly discussed.