Paenungulata

Paenungulata Temporal range: Paleocene - Recent, 61–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Top: Rock hyrax (Hyracoidea), Arsinoitherium zitteli (Embrithopoda); bottom: Asian elephant (Proboscidea), West Indian manatee (Sirenia).
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Superorder:	Afrotheria
Clade:	Paenungulatomorpha
Grandorder:	Paenungulata Simpson, 1945
Subgroups
Hyracoidea †Sudamericungulata?[1] Tethytheria

Paenungulata (from Latin paene "almost" + ungulātus "having hoofs") is a clade of "sub-ungulates", which groups three extant mammal orders: Proboscidea (including elephants), Sirenia (sea cows, including dugongs and manatees), and Hyracoidea (hyraxes). At least two more possible orders are known only as fossils, namely Embrithopoda and Desmostylia.^[a]

Molecular evidence indicates that Paenungulata (or at least its extant members) is part of the cohort Afrotheria, an ancient assemblage of mainly African mammals of great diversity. The other members of this cohort are the orders Afrosoricida (tenrecs and golden moles), Macroscelidea (elephant shrews) and Tubulidentata (aardvarks).^[2]

Of the five orders, hyraxes are the most basal, followed by embrithopods; the remaining orders (sirenians and elephants) are more closely related. These latter three are grouped as the Tethytheria, because it is believed that their common ancestors lived on the shores of the prehistoric Tethys Sea; however, recent myoglobin studies indicate that even Hyracoidea had an aquatic ancestor.^[3]

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