Primelephas is a genus of Elephantidae

Elephantidae

Elephantidae is a taxonomic family, collectively elephants and mammoths. These are terrestrial large mammals with a trunk and tusks. Most genera and species in the family are extinct...

 that existed during the Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

 and Pliocene

Pliocene

The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

 epochs. The name of the genus suggests 'first elephant'. These primitive elephantids are hypothesised to be the common ancestor of Mammuthus, the mammoth

Mammoth

A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...

s, and the closely allied genera Elephas

Elephas

Elephas is one of two surviving genera in the order of elephants, Proboscidea. The genus has one surviving species, the Asian elephant Elephas maximus....

and Loxodonta

Loxodonta

African elephants are the species of elephants in the genus Loxodonta , one of the two existing genera in Elephantidae. Although it is commonly believed that the genus was named by Georges Cuvier in 1825, Cuvier spelled it Loxodonte...

, the African and Eurasian elephants, diverging some four to six million years ago. Unusual for an elephant, it had four tusks. The type species, Primelephas gomphotheroides, was described by Vincent Maglio in 1970, the specific epithet indicating the fossil specimens were gomphothere

Gomphothere

Gomphotheriidae is a diverse taxonomic family of extinct elephant-like animals , called gomphotheres. They were widespread in North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, 12-1.6 million years ago. Some lived in parts of Eurasia, Beringia and, following the Great American Interchange,...

-like. Primelephas korotorensis is the only other species to be assigned to the genus.