The dwarf elephant Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis from Puntali Cave, Carini (Sicily; late Middle Pleistocene): Anatomy, systematics and phylogenetic relationships

The Pleistocene fauna of Sicily includes two endemic elephant taxa of different body sizes: the dwarf Palaeoloxodon falconeri and the medium-sized Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis. P. mnaidriensis is the younger of the two elephant taxa and occurs in faunal assemblages dated from the late Middle to the late Pleistocene. This paper presents a systematic and morphometric study of P. mnaidriensis based on material from the late Middle Pleistocene Puntali Cave (Carini), representing the largest and best preserved sample of this taxon.The morphological revision supports the hypothesis that P. mnaidriensis from Sicily is indeed a separate species with respect to mainland Palaeoloxodon antiquus and not just a smaller insular form of the latter. P. mnaidriensis from Puntali Cave has a mean estimated shoulder height of about 1.8 m and a mean body weight of about 1100 kg, representing a body mass reduction of nearly 90% with respect to the ancestral form. The observed morphological differences between P. mnaidriensis and P. antiquus are in part related to dwarfing but also suggest a different ecological adaptation of the insular form. The grouping of P. mnaidriensis with Palaeoloxodon recki atavus, Palaeoloxodon recki recki, Palaeoloxodon naumanni, P. antiquus and Palaeoloxodon namadicus in the monophyletic genus Palaeoloxodon is supported by three cranial synapomorphies.