Afroinsectiphilia

Afroinsectiphilia
Temporal range: Late Paleocene - Recent
Taxidermied animals at the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology, England. On the left four-toed elephant shrew (Petrodromus tetradactylus), in the middle Cape golden mole (Chrysochloris asiatica) and on the right greater hedgehog tenrec (Setifer setosus).
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Superorder: Afrotheria
Grandorder: Afroinsectiphilia
Orders
Red: Afrosoricida, yellow: Tubulidentata, blue: Macroscelidea, orange: both Macroscelidea and Afrosoricida, green: both Macroscelidea and Tubulidentata, purple: both Macroscelidea and Afrosoricida, black: Tubulidentata, Afrosoricida and Macroscelidea

Afroinsectiphilia (African insectivores) is a clade of afrotherian mammals that includes the golden moles, otter shrews, tenrecs, elephant shrews and aardvarks.

Afroinsectiphilia was first identified based on the results of molecular phylogenetic studies. Many of the taxa within it were once regarded as part of the order Insectivora, but Insectivora is now considered to be polyphyletic and obsolete.

Additionally, there might be some dental synapomorphies uniting afroinsectiphilians: p4 talonid and trigonid of similar breadth, a prominent p4 hypoconid, presence of a P4 metacone and absence of parastyles on M1–2. Additional features uniting ptolemaiidans and tubulidentates specifically include hypsodont molars that wear down to a flat surface; a long and shallow mandible with an elongated symphyseal region; and trigonids and talonids that are separated by lateral constrictions.

The sister group of Afroinsectiphilia is Paenungulata, the group containing hyraxes, sirenians and elephants, which were traditionally regarded as ungulates.

Taxonomy

Phylogeny

Afrotheria
A cladogram of Afrotheria based on molecular evidence

References

  1. ↑ Asher, R. J.; Bennett, N.; Lehmann, T. (2009-07-06). "The new framework for understanding placental mammal evolution". BioEssays. 31 (8): 853–864. doi:10.1002/bies.200900053. PMID 19582725.
  2. ↑ Rose, Kenneth David; Archibald, J. David (2005). The Rise of Placental Mammals: Origins and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades. JHU Press. p. 65. ISBN 0-8018-8022-X.
  3. ↑ Cote S, Werdelin L, Seiffert ER, Barry JC (March 2007). "Additional material of the enigmatic Early Miocene mammal Kelba and its relationship to the order Ptolemaiida". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 104 (13): 5510–5. Bibcode:2007PNAS..104.5510C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0700441104. PMC 1838468. PMID 17372202.
  4. ↑ Seiffert, Erik R (2007). "A new estimate of afrotherian phylogeny based on simultaneous analysis of genomic, morphological, and fossil evidence". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 7 (1): 224. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-224. PMC 2248600. PMID 17999766.
  5. ↑ Buckley, Michael (2013). "A Molecular Phylogeny of Plesiorycteropus Reassigns the Extinct Mammalian Order 'Bibymalagasia'". PLOS ONE. 8 (3) e59614. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...859614B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0059614. PMC 3608660. PMID 23555726.
  6. ↑ Tabuce, R.; Asher, R. J.; Lehmann, T. (2008). "Afrotherian mammals: a review of current data" (PDF). Mammalia. 72: 2–14. doi:10.1515/MAMM.2008.004. S2CID 46133294. Archived from the original on May 17, 2014.