A partial skeleton of "Mammut" borsoni (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the Pliocene of Kaltensundheim (Germany)

A detailed description of a partial skeleton of "Mammut" borsoni from the late Pliocene (Early Villafranchian, MN 16/17) of Kaltensundheim in Thuringia (Germany) is provided, and concentrates on osteological comparisons with specimens of the European Mammutidae (Zygolophodon turicensis and "M". borsoni) and the North American Mammut americanum. Osteological similarities between "M". borsoni and M. americanum have to be regarded as parallelisms. The Kaltensundheim specimen is one of the youngest appearances of mammutids in Europe. The skeleton may represent a female, because it is distinctly smaller than male individuals from Milia in Greece of a similar ontogenetic age. We use the genus name "Mammut" in quotation marks, because the genus Mammut evolved in North America and no reinvasion into Eurasia can be proven. Therefore, the genus name Mammut should not be used prematurely for Eurasian finds.