Mammuthus columbi Falconer, 1858

Tomas-Mosso, Azarael, Castañeda-Posadas, Carlos, Cruz, J. Alberto & Alarcón-Durán, Ivan, 2024, Pleistocene record of mammals and pollen from Mexico (Las Tazas, Valsequillo, Puebla) and their paleoenvironmental interpretation, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 15) 27 (1), pp. 1-18 : 11

Mammuthus columbi Falconer, 1858

Referred material. Left femur ( BUAPAL 775), Figure 5 .

Description. The femur presents the greater and lesser trochanters well defined, the internal and external femoral condyles are also present, as well as the fossette in lesser trochanter region. It has a long body with a length = 1300 mm, with well-defined proximal and distal regions with a width = 230 mm and 280 mm, respectively, and a slender diaphysis.

Comparison and remarks. Therefore, the characters mentioned above correspond to the genus Mammuthus , since the other two proboscidean families ( Mammutidae and Gomphotheriidae ) have expanded distal condyles medial and laterally and the robustness of the femur is less than in mastodon but is greater than gomphotheres, particularly on the shaft and medial condyle, and the femur of these families is smaller in size ( Tapia-Ramírez et al., 2013). M. columbi is the only valid mammoth species of the Late Pleistocene in Mexico (Lister and Sher, 2015). M. columbi is the largest proboscidean in Mexico, it has a wide distribution in North America with more than 270 localities in central Mexico (Agenbroad, 2005; Arroyo-Cabrales et al., 2010).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Fossil material of camel and mammoth from Las Tazas, Valsequillo, Puebla. Camelops cf. C. hesternus: A–B, left calcaneus (BUAPAL 757). Mammuthus columbi: C, left femur (BUAPAL 775). Figure A in medial view; B in lateral view; C in caudal view.