Laurasiatheria

Laurasiatheria; Temporal range:
	From top to right: European hedgehog, Lyle's flying fox, Siberian tiger, Indian pangolin, red deer and white rhino. Representing the living orders: Eulipotyphla, Chiroptera, Carnivora, Pholidota, Artiodactyla and Perissodactyla, comprising Laurasiatheria.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Magnorder:	Boreoeutheria
Superorder:	Laurasiatheria; Waddell et al., 1999
Subgroups
	Clade: Scrotifera; Order: Eulipotyphla;
Synonyms
	Eurasiatheria (Matsui & Pyenson, 2023); Hoplopoda (Goldfuss, 1820); Laurasiaplacentalia (Arnason, 2008);

Laurasiatheria (/lɔːrˌeɪʒəˈθɪəriə, -θɛriə/; "laurasian beasts") is a superorder of placental mammals that groups together true insectivores (eulipotyphlans), bats (chiropterans), carnivorans, pangolins (pholidotes), even-toed ungulates (artiodactyls), odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls), and all their extinct relatives. From systematics and phylogenetic perspectives, it is subdivided into order Eulipotyphla and clade Scrotifera.^[1]^[4]^[5] It is a sister group to Euarchontoglires with which it forms the magnorder Boreoeutheria. Laurasiatheria was discovered on the basis of the similar gene sequences shared by the mammals belonging to it; no anatomical features have yet been found that unite the group, although a few have been suggested such as a small coracoid process, a simplified hindgut (reversed in artiodactyls) and allantoic vessels that are large to moderate in size.^[6] The Laurasiatheria clade is based on DNA sequence analyses and retrotransposon presence/absence data. The superorder originated on the northern supercontinent of Laurasia, after it split from Gondwana when Pangaea broke up.^[1] Its last common ancestor is supposed to have lived between ca. 76 to 90 million years ago.^[7]^[8]

^ ^a ^b ^c Waddell, Peter J.; Okada, Norihiro; Hasegawa, Masami (1999). "Towards Resolving the Interordinal Relationships of Placental Mammals". Systematic Biology. 48 (1): 1–5. doi:10.1093/sysbio/48.1.1. PMID 12078634.
^ Matsui, K.; Pyenson, N. D. (2023). "New evidence for the antiquity of Desmostylus (Desmostylia) from the Skooner Gulch Formation of California". Royal Society Open Science. 10 (6). 221648. Bibcode:2023RSOS...1021648M. doi:10.1098/rsos.221648. PMC 10264998.
^ Arnason U., Adegoke J. A., Gullberg A., Harley E. H., Janke A., Kullberg M. (2008.) "Mitogenomic relationships of placental mammals and molecular estimates of their divergences." Gene.; 421(1–2):37–51
^ Nikaido, M.; Rooney, A. P. & Okada, N. (1999). "Phylogenetic relationships among cetartiodactyls based on insertions of short and long interpersed elements: Hippopotamuses are the closest extant relatives of whales". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96 (18): 10261–10266. Bibcode:1999PNAS...9610261N. doi:10.1073/pnas.96.18.10261. PMC 17876. PMID 10468596.
^ Groves, Colin; Grubb, Peter (1 November 2011). Ungulate Taxonomy. JHU Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-4214-0093-8. OCLC 708357723.
^ O'Leary, Maureen A.; Bloch, Jonathan I.; Flynn, John J.; Gaudin, Timothy J.; Giallombardo, Andres; Giannini, Norberto P.; Goldberg, Suzann L.; Kraatz, Brian P.; Luo, Zhe-Xi; Meng, Jin; Ni, Xijun; Novacek, Michael J.; Perini, Fernando A.; Randall, Zachary S.; Rougier, Guillermo W.; Sargis, Eric J.; Silcox, Mary T.; Simmons, Nancy B.; Spaulding, Michelle; Velazco, Paúl M.; Weksler, Marcelo; Wible, John R.; Cirranello, Andrea L. (2013). "The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post–K-Pg Radiation of Placentals". Science. 339 (6120): 662–667. Bibcode:2013Sci...339..662O. doi:10.1126/science.1229237. hdl:11336/7302. PMID 23393258. S2CID 206544776.
^ dos Reis, Mario; Inoue, Jun; Hasegawa, Masami; Asher, Robert J.; Donoghue, Philip C. J.; Yang, Ziheng (7 September 2012). "Phylogenomic datasets provide both precision and accuracy in estimating the timescale of placental mammal phylogeny". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 279 (1742): 3491–3500. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.0683. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 3396900. PMID 22628470.
^ Zhou, Xuming; Xu, Shixia; Xu, Junxiao; Chen, Bingyao; Zhou, Kaiya; Yang, Guang (1 January 2012). "Phylogenomic Analysis Resolves the Interordinal Relationships and Rapid Diversification of the Laurasiatherian Mammals". Systematic Biology. 61 (1): 150–64. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syr089. ISSN 1063-5157. PMC 3243735. PMID 21900649.

[Waddell1999-1] Waddell, Peter J.; Okada, Norihiro; Hasegawa, Masami (1999). "Towards Resolving the Interordinal Relationships of Placental Mammals". Systematic Biology. 48 (1): 1–5. doi:10.1093/sysbio/48.1.1. PMID 12078634.

[2] Matsui, K.; Pyenson, N. D. (2023). "New evidence for the antiquity of Desmostylus (Desmostylia) from the Skooner Gulch Formation of California". Royal Society Open Science. 10 (6). 221648. Bibcode:2023RSOS...1021648M. doi:10.1098/rsos.221648. PMC 10264998.

[3] Arnason U., Adegoke J. A., Gullberg A., Harley E. H., Janke A., Kullberg M. (2008.) "Mitogenomic relationships of placental mammals and molecular estimates of their divergences." Gene.; 421(1–2):37–51

[4] Nikaido, M.; Rooney, A. P. & Okada, N. (1999). "Phylogenetic relationships among cetartiodactyls based on insertions of short and long interpersed elements: Hippopotamuses are the closest extant relatives of whales". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96 (18): 10261–10266. Bibcode:1999PNAS...9610261N. doi:10.1073/pnas.96.18.10261. PMC 17876. PMID 10468596.

[Groves2011-5] Groves, Colin; Grubb, Peter (1 November 2011). Ungulate Taxonomy. JHU Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-4214-0093-8. OCLC 708357723.

[6] O'Leary, Maureen A.; Bloch, Jonathan I.; Flynn, John J.; Gaudin, Timothy J.; Giallombardo, Andres; Giannini, Norberto P.; Goldberg, Suzann L.; Kraatz, Brian P.; Luo, Zhe-Xi; Meng, Jin; Ni, Xijun; Novacek, Michael J.; Perini, Fernando A.; Randall, Zachary S.; Rougier, Guillermo W.; Sargis, Eric J.; Silcox, Mary T.; Simmons, Nancy B.; Spaulding, Michelle; Velazco, Paúl M.; Weksler, Marcelo; Wible, John R.; Cirranello, Andrea L. (2013). "The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post–K-Pg Radiation of Placentals". Science. 339 (6120): 662–667. Bibcode:2013Sci...339..662O. doi:10.1126/science.1229237. hdl:11336/7302. PMID 23393258. S2CID 206544776.

[dosReis2012-7] s Reis, Mario; Inoue, Jun; Hasegawa, Masami; Asher, Robert J.; Donoghue, Philip C. J.; Yang, Ziheng (7 September 2012). "Phylogenomic datasets provide both precision and accuracy in estimating the timescale of placental mammal phylogeny". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 279 (1742): 3491–3500. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.0683. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 3396900. PMID 22628470.

[Zhou2012-8] Zhou, Xuming; Xu, Shixia; Xu, Junxiao; Chen, Bingyao; Zhou, Kaiya; Yang, Guang (1 January 2012). "Phylogenomic Analysis Resolves the Interordinal Relationships and Rapid Diversification of the Laurasiatherian Mammals". Systematic Biology. 61 (1): 150–64. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syr089. ISSN 1063-5157. PMC 3243735. PMID 21900649.

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