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Preptotheria

(Superorder)

Overview

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A taxonomic superorder.

Photos

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Taxonomy

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The Superorder Preptotheria is a member of the Magnorder Epitheria. Here is the complete "parentage" of Preptotheria:

The Superorder Preptotheria is further organized into finer groupings including:

Orders

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Afrosoricida

The order Afrosoricida (a Latin-Greek compound name which means "looking like African shrews") contains the golden moles of southern Africa and the tenrecs of Madagascar and Africa, two families of small mammals that have traditionally been considered to be a part of the order Insectivora. [more]

Anagalida

Anagaloidea is an extinct order of mammals, first appearing during the Cretaceous. [more]

Arctostylopida

Arctostylopida is an extinct order of placental mammals. They're animals of uncertain affinities to other groups and it was believed that they may be related to ungulates. Originally they were considered to be Northern relatives of Southern American notoungulates, closer to Notostylopidae. Now it seems more likely they were descendants of Asian Gliriformes, akin to rabbits and rodents. Their tarsal morphology shows moderate similarity to the gliriform Pseudictops, and strong resemblance to the tarsally conservative gliroid Rhombomylus. [more]

Artiodactyla

The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla) are ungulates (hoofed animals) whose weight is borne about equally by the third and fourth toes, rather than mostly or entirely by the third as in odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) such as horses. [more]

Astrapotheria

Astrapotheria is an extinct order of South American hoofed animals. The history of this order is enigmatic, but it may taxonomically belong to Meridiungulata (along with Notoungulata, Litopterna and Pyrotheria). In turn, Meridungulata is believed to belong to the extant superorder Laurasiatheria. However, some scientists regard the astrapotheres (and sometimes the Meridiungulata all together) to be members of the clade Atlantogenata. An example of this order is Astrapotherium magnum. When alive, Astrapotherium might have resembled a mastodon, but was only three meters (ten feet) long. [more]

Carnivora

The diverse order Carnivora ( or /?k?rn?'v??r?/; from Latin caro (stem carn-) "flesh", + vorare "to devour") includes over 260 species of placental mammals. Its members are formally referred to as carnivorans, while the word "carnivore" (often popularly applied to members of this group) can refer to any meat-eating animal. Carnivorans are the most diverse in size of any mammalian order, ranging from the least weasel (Mustela nivalis), at as little as 25 grams (0.88 oz) and 11 centimetres (4.3 in), to the polar bear (Ursus maritimus), which can weigh up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb), to the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), whose adult males weigh up to 5,000 kilograms (11,000 lb) and measure up to 6.9 metres (23 ft) in length. [more]

Cete

An Order in the Kingdom Animalia. [more]

Chiroptera

Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera (; from the Greek ?e?? - cheir, "hand" and pte??? - pteron, "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly, and can only glide for short distances. Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs, as birds do, but instead flap their spread-out digits, which are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium. [more]

Cimolesta

Cimolesta (from Greek, literally, "White Clay Thieves") is an extinct order of mammals. A few experts[] place the pangolins within Cimolesta, though most other experts[who?] prefer to place the pangolins within their own order, Pholidota. [more]

Condylarthra

[more]

Creodonta

[more]

Deltatheroida

[more]

Dermoptera

Colugos () are arboreal gliding mammals found in South-east Asia. There are just two extant species, which make up the entire family Cynocephalidae (play /?sa?n?s?'f??l?di?/) and order Dermoptera. They are the most capable of all gliding mammals, using flaps of extra skin between their legs to glide from higher to lower locations. They are also known as cobegos or flying lemurs, though they are not true lemurs. [more]

Dinocerata

[more]

Dryolestida

[more]

Erinaceomorpha

Erinaceidae is the only living family in the order Erinaceomorpha, which has recently been subsumed with Soricomorpha into the order Eulipotyphla. Eulipotyphla has been shown to be monophyletic; Soricomorpha is paraphyletic because Soricidae shared a more recent common ancestor with Erinaceidae than with other soricomorphs. [more]

Haramiyoidea

[more]

Lagomorpha

The lagomorphs are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families, the Leporidae (hares and rabbits), and the Ochotonidae (pikas). The name of the order is derived from the Greek lagos (?a???, "hare") and morphe (???f?, "form"). [more]

Litopterna

[more]

Mimotonida

[more]

Mixodontia

[more]

Morganucodonta

[more]

Notoungulata

[more]

Perissodactyla

An odd-toed ungulate is a mammal with hooves that feature an odd number of toes. Odd-toed ungulates comprise the order Perissodactyla (Greek: pe??ss??, periss?s, "uneven", and d??t????, d?ktylos, "finger/toe"). The middle toe on each hoof is usually larger than its neighbours. Odd-toed ungulates are relatively large grazers and, unlike the ruminant even-toed ungulates (artiodactyls), they have relatively simple stomachs because they are hindgut fermenters, digesting plant cellulose in their intestines rather than in one or more stomachs. Odd-toed ungulates include the horse, tapirs, and rhinoceroses. [more]

Primates

A primate ( US dict: pri'?mat) is a mammal of the order Primates (/pra?'me?ti?z/ US dict: pri?ma'?tez; Latin: "prime, first rank"), which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment. All but a few primate species remain at least partly arboreal. [more]

Procreodi

[more]

Proteutheria

[more]

Pyrotheria

[more]

Rodentia

Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing. [more]

Scandentia

The treeshrews (or tree shrews) are small mammals native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. They make up the families Tupaiidae, the treeshrews, and Ptilocercidae, the pen-tailed treeshrews, and the entire order Scandentia. There are 20 species in 5 genera. Treeshrews have a higher brain to body mass ratio than any mammals, including humans, though this is not uncommon for animals weighing less than a kilogram. [more]

Soricomorpha

The order Soricomorpha ("shrew-form") is a taxon within the class of mammals. In previous years it formed a significant group within the former order Insectivora. However, that order was shown to be polyphyletic and various new orders were split off from it, including Afrosoricida (tenrecs and golden moles), Macroscelidea (elephant shrews), and Erinaceomorpha (hedgehogs and gymnures), leaving just four families as shown here, leaving Insectivora empty and disbanded. [more]

Spalacotherioidea

[more]

Therapsida

Therapsida is a group of the most advanced synapsids, and include the ancestors of mammals. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including hair, lactation, and an erect posture. The earliest fossil attributed to Therapsida is believed to be Tetraceratops insignis (Lower Permian). Therapsids evolved from 'pelycosaurs' (specifically sphenacodonts) 275 million years ago. They replaced the pelycosaurs as the dominant large land animals in the Middle Permian. They remained the dominant fauna until replaced by archosaurs and rhynchosaurs in the Middle Triassic although some therapsids, the kannemeyeriiforms for example, remained diverse in the Late Triassic. The therapsids included the cynodonts, the group that gave rise to mammals in the Late Triassic around 225 million years ago. Of the non-mammalian therapsids, only cynodonts and dicynodonts survived the Triassic?Jurassic extinction event. The last of the non-mammalian therapsids, the cynodont tritylodontids, became extinct in the Early Cretaceous, approximately 100 million years ago. [more]

Tubulidentata

Orycteropodidae is a family of afrotherian mammals. Although there are many fossil species, the only species surviving today is the aardvark, Orycteropus afer. Orycteropodidae is recognized as the only family within the order Tubulidentata, so the two are effectively synonyms. [more]

Uranotheria

Paenungulata is a taxon that groups some remarkable mammals, including three orders that are extant: Proboscidea (including elephants), Sirenia (sea cows, including dugongs and manatees), and Hyracoidea (hyraxes, such as the African Rock Hyrax, Procavia habessinica). At least two more orders are known only as fossils, namely Embrithopoda and Desmostylia. Both of these extinct orders were as unique in their ways as the surviving orders. Embrithopods were rhinoceros-like herbivorous mammals with plantigrade feet, and desmostylians were hippopotamus-like amphibious animals. Their walking posture and diet have been the subject of speculation, but tooth wear indicates that desmostylians browsed on terrestrial plants and had a posture similar to other large hoofed mammals. [more]

Xenungulata

Pyrotheria is an order of extinct meridiungulate mammals. These mastodon-like ungulates include the genera , Carolozittelia, Colombitherium, Gryphodon, Propyrotherium, Proticia, and Pyrotherium. [more]

More info about the Order Xenungulata may be found here.

Sources

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Last Revised: February 23, 2012
2012/02/23 14:37:48