Elephas is one of two surviving genera in the family of elephants, Elephantidae, with one surviving species, the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus. Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to the genus, including Elephas recki, Elephas antiquus and the dwarf elephants E. falconeri and E. cypriotes. The genus is very closely related to the mammoth genus Mammuthus. .

In December 2012, a study by a team of scientists from China reported that the elephant living in China in ancient times (Shang and Zhou dynasties) could not have been a subspecies of the Asian elephant, as previously thought, but probably belonged to the genus Palaeoloxodon.[3] P. namadicus were distributed across Asia, but it is unclear if the mysterious elephants of northern China were remnants of P. namadicus or a unique species of their own. This conclusion was reached after studying remains of Chinese elephant molars and tusks from the Holocene epoch, as well as examining ritual bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, which all depicted elephants with two 'fingers' on the tip of their trunk (whereas the Indian elephant only has one 'finger').

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephants_in_ancient_China