Laurasiatheria

style="background:#Template:Taxobox colour;"|Laurasiatheria Fossil range: Late Cretaceous - Recent
Giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) Giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus)
style="background:#Template:Taxobox colour;" | Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Class: Mammalia Infraclass: Eutheria Superorder: Laurasiatheria Waddell et al., 1999
Orders
Erinaceomorpha Soricomorpha Chiroptera Cetartiodactyla Cetacea Artiodactyla Perissodactyla Ferae: Pholidota Carnivora

Laurasiatheria is a clade of rank cohort or super-order, within the Placentalia (living) or Eutheria (Placentals and their extinct ancestors) infraclass of mammals, based on DNA sequence analyses and Retrotransposon presence/absence data. The name comes from the theory that these mammals evolved on the supercontinent of Laurasia, after it split from Gondwana when Pangaea broke up. It is a sister group to Euarchontoglires (Supraprimates) and Afrotheria. It includes the following extant orders:

• Erinaceomorpha: hedgehogs and gymnures
• Soricomorpha: moles, shrews, solenodons (cosmopolitan)
• Cetartiodactyla: cosmopolitan; includes former orders Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises) and Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates, including pigs, hippopotamus, camels, giraffe, deer, antelope, cattle, sheep, goats)
• Pegasoferae:
  • Pholidota: pangolins or scaly anteaters (Africa, South Asia)
  • Chiroptera: bats (cosmopolitan)
  • Carnivora: carnivores (cosmopolitan)
  • Perissodactyla: odd-toed ungulates

Within the Laurasiatheria, the Erinaceomorpha appears (surprisingly) to be the most divergent branch. Some studies link the Perissodactyla and Ferae in a clade Zooamata; others link Perissodactyla and Cetartiodactyla in a clade of true ungulates. Neither clade is well supported.

Laurasiatheria is also posited to include several extinct orders and superorders:

• Meridiungulata
• Condylarthra
• Dinocerata
• Mesonychia
• Cimolesta
• Creodonta

References

• William J. Murphy, Eduardo Eizirik, Mark S. Springer et al., Resolution of the Early Placental Mammal Radiation Using Bayesian Phylogenetics,Science, Vol 294, Issue 5550, 2348-2351, 14 December 2001.
• Jan Ole Kriegs, Gennady Churakov, Martin Kiefmann, Ursula Jordan, Juergen Brosius, Juergen Schmitz. (2006) Retroposed Elements as Archives for the Evolutionary History of Placental Mammals. PLoS Biol 4(4): e91.[1] (pdf version)
• Kitazoe Y, Kishino H, Waddell PJ, Nakajima N, Okabayashi T, et al (2007) "Robust Time Estimation Reconciles Views of the Antiquity of Placental Mammals." PLoS ONE 2(4): e384. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000384