Q: Where do elephants come from?
A: Ectocion ralstonensis
during a round of phylogenetic miniaturization following Phenacodus (Fig 1) in the large reptile tree (LRT, 2338 taxa).
Earlier Phenacodus was matched to the much larger Palaeomastodon (Fig 1). Now even smaller Ectocion ralstonensis (Fig 1) nests as a transitional taxon between the two.
Figure 1. Phenacodus, Ectocion ralstonensis and Palaeomastodon to scale and E ralstonensis enlarged to show detail. DGS colors added here.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/palaeomastodon.phenacodus.ectocion588-1.jpg?w=133″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/palaeomastodon.phenacodus.ectocion588-1.jpg?w=455″ class=”size-full wp-image-92108″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/palaeomastodon.phenacodus.ectocion588-1.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Phenacodus, Ectocion ralstonensis and Palaeomastodon to scale and E ralstonensis enlarged to show detail. DGS colors added here. ” width=”584″ height=”1313″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/palaeomastodon.phenacodus.ectocion588-1.jpg?w=584&h=1313 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/palaeomastodon.phenacodus.ectocion588-1.jpg?w=67&h=150 67w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/palaeomastodon.phenacodus.ectocion588-1.jpg?w=133&h=300 133w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/palaeomastodon.phenacodus.ectocion588-1.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. Phenacodus, Ectocion ralstonensis and Palaeomastodon to scale and E ralstonensis enlarged to show detail. DGS colors added here. Note the precursor premaxillary and dentary tusks. Note the difference in the data presented in the two lateral views of Palaeomastodon.
Those large, almost rodent-like incisior teeth
on Ectocion ralstonensis (Fig 1) appear to be precursor tusks.
One version of Palaeomastodon
(Fig 1) has a short canine matching the short one seen in Ectocion ralstonensis. The drawing of Palaeomastodon lacks a canine.
From Wikipedia – Ectocion
“Ectocion (sometimes Ectocyon) is an extinct genus of placental mammals in the order Condylarthra. Specimens of these herbivores have been found in Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan) and the United States (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming). Eocene specimens have been found in Mexico and the United States (Colorado, Mississippi, Wyoming). One of the effects of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was the reduction in size of some animals. Various jaw fossils of Ectocion show that this genus was smaller in the PETM (E. parvus, 55.5 million years ago) than earlier and later specimens of E. osbornianus (55.6 and 55.3 million years ago).”
Figure 2. Ectocion cedrus compared to Ectocion ralstonensis with updated DGS colors applied here.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ectocion_cedrus588skull.jpg?w=168″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ectocion_cedrus588skull.jpg?w=573″ class=”size-full wp-image-92109″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ectocion_cedrus588skull.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Ectocion cedrus compared to Ectocion ralstonensis with updated DGS colors applied here.” width=”584″ height=”1043″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ectocion_cedrus588skull.jpg?w=584&h=1043 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ectocion_cedrus588skull.jpg?w=84&h=150 84w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ectocion_cedrus588skull.jpg?w=168&h=300 168w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ectocion_cedrus588skull.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 2. Ectocion cedrus compared to Ectocion ralstonensis with updated DGS colors applied here.
The LRT nests another species
Ectocion cedrus finally nests close to Ectocion ralstonensis, despit the fact that E cedrus lacks those premaxillary pre-tusks and has enlarged canines.
Ectocion cedrus nests close to Prodinoceras (Fig 3) and Elophiodon in the LRT and this clade is the sister clade to E ralstonensis and elephants as of today.
We’ll see how well this holds in future rounds of corrections elsewhere on the tree.
This change affected several unrelated clades, but left others alone.
Figure 1. Prodinoceras and relatives in the LRT go back to the extant tiny marsupial, Monodelphis sorex, and include Ectocion cedrus and Didelphis, the Virginia opossum.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/prodinoceras.skull_.diagram588-1.jpg?w=109″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/prodinoceras.skull_.diagram588-1.jpg?w=371″ class=”size-full wp-image-90680″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/prodinoceras.skull_.diagram588-1.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Prodinoceras and relatives in the LRT go back to the extant tiny marsupial, Monodelphis sorex, and include Ectocion cedrus and Didelphis, the Virginia opossum.” width=”584″ height=”1614″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/prodinoceras.skull_.diagram588-1.jpg?w=584&h=1614 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/prodinoceras.skull_.diagram588-1.jpg?w=54&h=150 54w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/prodinoceras.skull_.diagram588-1.jpg?w=109&h=300 109w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/prodinoceras.skull_.diagram588-1.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 3. Prodinoceras and relatives in the LRT go back to the extant tiny marsupial, Monodelphis sorex, and include Ectocion cedrus and Didelphis, the Virginia opossum.
Montellano-Ballesteros, Fox and Scott 2021 reported,
“Ectocion stockeyae also exhibits sexual dimorphism of the canines.”
References
Cope ED 1882a. Contributions to the history of the Vertebrata of the lower Eocene of Wyoming and New Mexico, made during 1881. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society: 139-197.
Cope ED 1882e. Note on Eocene Mammalia. American Naturalist 16:522.
Granger W 1915. A revision of the lower Wasatch and Wind River faunas, Part III: Order Condylarthra, families Phenacodontidae and Meniscotheriidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 34:329-361.
Montellano-Ballesteros M, Fox RC and Scott CS 2021. A new, “dwarfed” species of the phenacodontid “condylarth” Ectocion from the late Paleocene of Alberta, Canada, and its implications. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 58 (11): 1155–1169.
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2025/03/24/q-where-do-elephants-come-from/
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