Euarchontoglires
Superorder of mammals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Euarchontoglires (from Euarchonta 'true rulers' + Glires 'dormice'), synonymous with Supraprimates, is a clade and a superorder of placental mammals, the living members of which belong to one of the five following groups: rodents, lagomorphs, treeshrews, primates, and colugos.
Murphy et al., 2001[1]
| Euarchontoglires Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| From top to bottom (left): rat, treeshrew, colugo; (right) hare, macaque with human. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Magnorder: | Boreoeutheria |
| Superorder: | Euarchontoglires Murphy et al., 2001[1] |
| Subgroups | |
| |
Classification
External classification
The Euarchontoglires clade is based on DNA sequence analyses and retrotransposon markers that combine the clades Glires (Rodentia + Lagomorpha) and Euarchonta (Scandentia + Primates + Dermoptera).[1] It is usually discussed without a taxonomic rank but has been called a cohort, magnorder, or superorder. Relations among the four cohorts (Euarchontoglires, Xenarthra, Laurasiatheria, Afrotheria) and the identity of the placental root remain controversial.[4][5]
So far, few, if any, distinctive anatomical features have been recognized that support Euarchontoglires; nor does any strong evidence from anatomy support alternative hypotheses.[citation needed] Although both Euarchontoglires and diprotodont marsupials are documented to possess a vermiform appendix, this feature evolved as a result of convergent evolution.[6]
Euarchontoglires probably split from the Boreoeutheria magnorder about 85 to 95 million years ago, during the Cretaceous, and developed in the Laurasian island group that would later become Europe.[citation needed] This hypothesis is supported by molecular evidence; so far, the earliest known fossils date to the early Paleocene.[7] The combined clade of Euarchontoglires and Laurasiatheria is recognized as Boreoeutheria.[8]
Internal Classification
The hypothesized relationship among the Euarchontoglires is as follows:[9]
| Boreoeutheria |
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One study based on DNA analysis suggests that Scandentia and Primates are sister clades, but does not discuss the position of Dermoptera.[10] Although it is known that Scandentia is one of the most basal Euarchontoglires clades, the exact phylogenetic position is not yet considered resolved, and it may be a sister of Glires, Primatomorpha or Dermoptera or to all other Euarchontoglires.[11][5][12] Some old studies place Scandentia as sister of the Glires, invalidating Euarchonta.[13][14]
