Afrotheria
Translingual
Afrotheria: 1. aardvark 2. dugong 3. black and rufous elephant shrew 4. West Indian manatee 5. golden mole 6. rock hyrax 7. African bush elephant 8. tailless tenrec
Etymology
afro- + Theria
Proper noun
Afrotheria
- A taxonomic superorder within the subclass Eutheria – the elephants, aardvarks, golden moles, tenrecs, etc.
- 1998, Michael J. Stanhope et al., "Molecular Evidence for Multiple Origins of Insectivora and for a New Order of Endemic African Insectivore Mammals", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, volume 95, page 9971:
- Golden moles and tenrecs are therefore more closely related to aardvarks and elephants than they are to shrews, moles, and hedgehogs. Because this African clade is well supported both from a statistical and congruence perspective but is not currently recognized taxonomically, we propose the superordinal name Afrotheria.
- 2001, William J. Murphy et al., "Resolution of the Early Placental Mammal Radiation Using Bayesian Phylogenetics", Science, volume 294, page 2348:
- The basal split is between Afrotheria and other placentals, at about 103 million years, and may be accounted for by the separation of South America and Africa in the Cretaceous.
- 1998, Michael J. Stanhope et al., "Molecular Evidence for Multiple Origins of Insectivora and for a New Order of Endemic African Insectivore Mammals", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, volume 95, page 9971:
Hyponyms
- (superorder): Paenungulata - clade; Afrosoricida, Macroscelidea, Tubulidentata, †Embrithopoda, †Desmostylia - orders
Further reading
