This is a lower molar belonging to Loxodonta cf. adaurora found in Area 40, East Turkana.
Only two genera of elephantids remain extant today, Loxodonta is found in Africa and Elephas in Eurasia. Both genera lived in Africa in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene, when Elephas was the more common.
The earliest Loxodonta are found in the late Miocene. Loxodonts have a wholly African evolutionary history. Several species of Loxodonta have been recognized in East Africa: Loxodonta adaurora, L. exoptata, L. atlantica. Two of these species (L. adaurora and L. exoptata) are found to the east of Lake Turkana.
