| Laurasiatheria Fossil range: Late Cretaceous - Recent |
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| Giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Subclass: | Theriiformes |
| Infraclass: | Eutheria |
| (unranked): | subcogort Exafroplacentalia (Notolegia) |
| Superorder: | Laurasiatheria Waddell et al. 1999 [1] |
| Orders | |
Laurasiatheria is a large group of placental mammals. It includes bats, most hoofed mammals, and carnivorans, among other mammals.
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Classification and phylogeny
Laurasiatheria was discovered on the basis of the similar gene sequences shared by the mammals belonging to it. No anatomical features have yet been found that unite the group. Laurasiatheria is a clade ususally discussed without a Linnaean rank, but has been assigned the rank of cohort or magnorder, and superorder. The Laurasiatheria clade is based on DNA sequence analyses and retrotransposon presence/absence data. The name comes from the theory that these mammals evolved on the supercontinent of Laurasia, after it split from Gondwana when Pangaea broke up. It is a sister group to Euarchontoglires (Supraprimates) and Afrotheria. It includes the following extant orders:
- Erinaceomorpha: hedgehogs and gymnures
- Soricomorpha: moles, shrews, solenodons (cosmopolitan)
- Cetartiodactyla: cosmopolitan; includes former orders Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises) and Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates, including pigs, hippopotamus, camels, giraffe, deer, antelope, cattle, sheep, goats)
- Pegasoferae:
- Pholidota: pangolins or scaly anteaters (Africa, South Asia)
- Chiroptera: bats (cosmopolitan)
- Carnivora: carnivores (cosmopolitan)
- Perissodactyla: odd-toed ungulates
Within the Laurasiatheria, the Erinaceomorpha appears (surprisingly[clarification needed]) to be the most divergent branch. Some studies link the Perissodactyla and Ferae in a clade Zooamata; others link Perissodactyla and Cetartiodactyla in a clade of true ungulates. Neither clade is well supported.
Laurasiatheria is also posited to include several extinct orders and superorders:
Cladogram
| Laurasiatheria |
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References
- ^ Waddell, Peter J., Okada, Norihiro, & Hasegawa, Masami (1999). "Towards resolving the interordinal relationships of placental mammals". Systematic Biology 48 (1): 1–5. doi:. http://www.deer.rr.ualberta.ca/library/taxonomy/reading.pdf. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (February 2008) |
- William J. Murphy, Eduardo Eizirik, Mark S. Springer et al., Resolution of the Early Placental Mammal Radiation Using Bayesian Phylogenetics,Science, Vol 294, Issue 5550, 2348-2351, 14 December 2001.
- Jan Ole Kriegs, Gennady Churakov, Martin Kiefmann, Ursula Jordan, Juergen Brosius, Juergen Schmitz. (2006) Retroposed Elements as Archives for the Evolutionary History of Placental Mammals. PLoS Biol 4(4): e91.[1] (pdf version)
- Kitazoe Y, Kishino H, Waddell PJ, Nakajima N, Okabayashi T, et al. (2007) "Robust Time Estimation Reconciles Views of the Antiquity of Placental Mammals." PLoS ONE 2(4): e384. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000384
Look also
External links
- Placental mammal diversification and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary
- Evolution of the mammalian placenta revealed by phylogenetic analysis
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Wikispecies has information related to: Laurasiatheria |
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