Euarchontoglires

Euarchontoglires
Temporal range: Paleocene - Holocene, 65–0Ma
Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Euarchontoglires
Murphy et al., 2001
Orders

Euarchontoglires (synonymous with Supraprimates) is a clade (superorder) of mammals, the living members of which belong to one of the five following groups: rodents, lagomorphs, treeshrews, colugos and primates (including humans).

Evolutionary relationships

The Euarchontoglires clade is based on DNA sequence analyses and retrotransposon presence/absence data, combining the Glires clade, which consists of Rodentia and Lagomorpha, with that of Euarchonta, a clade consisting of Scandentia, Primates (which includes humans) and Dermoptera. So far, few if any anatomical features supporting Euarchontoglires have been recognized, but neither is there strong evidence from anatomy to support alternative hypotheses.

Euarchontoglires is now recognized as one of the four major groups within Eutheria (containing placental mammals).[1] These four clades are usually discussed without a Linnaean rank, but have been assigned the rank of cohort or magnorder, and superorder. Relations between the four cohorts (Euarchontoglires, Xenarthra, Laurasiatheria, and Afrotheria) and the identity of the placental root, remain somewhat controversial.[2]

Euarchontoglires probably split from the Laurasiatheria sister group about 85 to 95 million years ago, during the Cretaceous, developing in the Laurasian island group that would later become Europe. This hypothesis is supported by molecular evidence; so far, the earliest known fossils date to the early Paleocene.[3] The clade of Euarchontoglires and Laurasiatheria is recognized as Boreoeutheria. Both Euarchontoglires and diprotodont marsupials are documented to possess a vermiform appendix, although this evolved as a result of convergence.[4]

Organization

The hypothesized relationship among the Euarchontoglires is as follows:

Euarchontoglires
Gliriformes

Anagaloidea?



Arctostylopida[5]


Glires

Rodentia (rodents)



Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares, pikas)




Euarchonta

Scandentia (treeshrews)


Primatomorpha

Dermoptera (colugos)




Primates



Plesiadapiformes






One study based on DNA analysis suggests that Scandentia and Primates are sister clades, but did not discuss the position of Dermoptera.[6]

References

  1. Murphy, William J.; Eizirik, Eduardo; O'Brien, Stephen J.; Madsen, Ole; Scally, Mark; Douady, Christophe J.; Teeling, Emma; Ryder, Oliver A.; Stanhope, Michael J.; de Jong, Wilfried W.; Springer, Mark S. (2001). "Resolution of the Early Placental Mammal Radiation Using Bayesian Phylogenetics". Science 294 (5550): 2348–2351. doi:10.1126/science.1067179. PMID 11743200.
  2. Asher, RJ; Bennett, N; Lehmann, T (2009). "The new framework for understanding placental mammal evolution". BioEssays 31 (8): 853–864. doi:10.1002/bies.200900053. PMID 19582725.
  3. O'Leary, M. A.; Bloch, J. I.; Flynn, J. J.; Gaudin, T. J.; Giallombardo, A.; Giannini, N. P.; Cirranello, A. L. (2013). "The placental mammal ancestor and the post–K-Pg radiation of placentals". Science 339 (6120): 662–667. doi:10.1126/science.1229237. PMID 23393258.
  4. Smith, H. F.; Fisher, R. E.; Everett, M. L.; Thomas, A. D.; Randal Bollinger, R.; Parker, W. (October 2009). "Comparative anatomy and phylogenetic distribution of the mammalian cecal appendix". Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22 (10): 1984–1999. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01809.x. PMID 19678866.
  5. Missiaen P, Smith T, Guo DY, Bloch JI, Gingerich PD (2006). "Asian gliriform origin for arctostylopid mammals.". Naturwissenschaften 93 (8): 407–411. doi:10.1007/s00114-006-0122-1. PMID 16865388.
  6. Song S, Liu L, Edwards SV, Wu S (2012) Resolving conflict in eutherian mammal phylogeny using phylogenomics and the multispecies coalescent model. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA

Further reading

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