New materials of the steppe mammoth, Mammuthus trogontherii, with discussion on the origin and evolutionary patterns of mammoths

Recently found materials indicate that the steppe mammoth, Mammuthus trogontherii , survived in northern China into the late Pleistocene. East Asia is the key area of mammoth evolution after the initial radiation of early forms out of Africa and into Eurasia at the beginning of the late Pliocene (c. 3.5-3.0 Ma). M. rumanus, M. meridionalis, M. trogontherii , and M. primigenius probably formed a continuous and transitional evolutionary lineage within the pan-Eurasian mammoth radiation in East Asia. Each speciation event of the Eurasian mammoths was followed by a rapid and large-scale dispersal event: out of East Asia. Allopatric speciation is the main speciation pattern of Mammuthus . The climatic vacillation was severe and frequent in East Asia from the early part of early Pleistocene (c. 2.6 Ma) onward, which probably brought about successive speciation in East Asia and the subsequent dispersal of the mammoths.