Order Proboscidea Author Wilson, Don E. Author Reeder, DeeAnn text 2005 The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1 90 91 book chapter 0-8018-8221-4 10.5281/zenodo.7316519 Proboscidea Illiger 1811 Synonyms: Proboscidiae Gray 1821 ; Probosciformes Kinman 1994 . Families: 1 family with 2 genera and 3 species: Family Elephantidae Gray 1821 (2 genera with 3 species and 3 subspecies) Discussion: Traditionally (since Illiger, 1811 ) the category or rank of "Order" has been used for Proboscidea . In 1997 McKenna, Bell et al., following cladistic classification, proposed a new category – "Parvorder" for PROBOSCIDEA . For ‘stability’ I retained the ordinal category, even though the category parvorder conveys a cladistic message.