Who proposed Elephas (Loxodonta) cyclotis in 1900?

Paul Matschie proposed Elephas (Loxodonta) cyclotis in 1900.

Matschie was a German zoologist who examined elephant skulls collected near the Sanaga River in southern Cameroon. He described a female and a male specimen whose skull shapes differed from those of other African elephants, leading him to propose the name in his work on geographic varieties of the African elephant.

The name reflects an earlier classification system: African elephants were once placed in the genus Elephas, while Loxodonta later became the accepted genus for living African elephants. The animal is now generally called the African forest elephant, Loxodonta cyclotis, and is recognized as a species distinct from the African bush elephant.

A common mix-up is Richard Lydekker, who later proposed several African elephant subspecies in 1907. Georges Cuvier was also involved in early elephant taxonomy, but he did not propose this 1900 name. Genetic and morphological studies published much later supported Matschie’s distinction between forest and savanna elephants.