Elephas iolensis

Elephas iolensis is an extinct species of large herbivorous mammal belonging to the Elephantidae family. The type specimen is located in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The species is thought to have lived in the African Savannah during the Late Pleistocene age, between 130,000 and 10,000 years ago. It was a direct descendant of "Elephas recki" and more distantly, "Elephas ekorensis". By studying fossils of different species in Genus "Elephas", especially the dental morphology, dental similarities have been found among "Elephas iolensis" and "Elephas hysudricus". This linkage indicates a parallel evolution in these two extinct species.