Afrosoricida

Hottentot golden mole Amblysomus hottentotus, from here.

Belongs within: Afrotheria.
Contains: Oryzorictinae.

The Afrosoricida or Tenrecoidea is a clade supported by molecular analyses uniting the Chrysochloridae (golden moles) and Tenrecidae (tenrecs and otter shrews). Chrysochloridae are found in arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Tenrecidae are mostly found in Madagascar, but the otter shrews of the Potamogalinae are found on continental Africa (as well as some fossil taxa). Members of the Afrosoricida all have zalambdodont teeth, in which the molars have a simplified V-shaped crest, but this characteristic is also found in some other mammal groups.

<==Afrosoricida [Tenrecoidea, Tenrecomorpha]
    |--Chrysochloridae [Chrysochlorida, Chrysochloroidea] ANG03
    |    |--Prochrysochloris miocaenicus Butler & Hopwood 1957 B78
    |    |--Proamblysomus antiquus Broom 1941 B78
    |    |--Calcochloris obtusirostris IT07
    |    |--Chrysospalax IT07
    |    |    |--C. trevelyani IT07
    |    |    `--C. villosus IT07
    |    |--Cryptochloris BP87
    |    |    |--C. wintoni BP87
    |    |    `--C. zyli BP87
    |    |--Eremitalpa granti B78, BP87
    |    |    |--E. g. granti BP87
    |    |    `--E. g. namibensis BP87
    |    |--Chrysochloris B74
    |    |    |--C. asiatica B74
    |    |    |--C. stuhlmanni IT07
    |    |    `--C. visagiei IT07
    |    |--Chlorotalpa M94
    |    |    |--C. arendsi IT07
    |    |    |--C. duthieae IT07
    |    |    |--C. leucorhina IT07
    |    |    |--C. sclateri IT07
    |    |    |--C. spelea Broom 1941 B78
    |    |    |--C. stuhlmanni JP84
    |    |    `--C. tytonis IT07
    |    `--Amblysomus ANG03
    |         |--A. arendsi BP87
    |         |--A. duthiae BP87
    |         |--A. gunningi IT07
    |         |--A. hamiltoni (De Graaff 1958) [=Chrysotricha hamiltoni] B78
    |         |--A. hottentotus ANG03
    |         |--A. iris IT07
    |         |--A. julianae IT07
    |         |--A. longiceps M94
    |         `--A. tytonis BP87
    `--Tenrecidae [Centetidae] ANG03
         |  i. s.: Dasogale fontoynonti BP87
         |         Nesogale M58
         |           |--N. dobsoni JP84
         |           `--N. talazaci JP84
         |         0--Todralestes variabilis GP11, CW07
         |         `--+--Dilambdogale GP11
         |            `--Widanelfarasia GP11
         |--Potamogalinae [Potamogalidae] B78
         |    |--Potamogale B78
         |    |    |--P. ruwenzorii M58
         |    |    `--P. velox M58
         |    `--Micropotamogale B78
         |         |--M. lamottei M58
         |         `--M. ruwenzorii IT07
         `--+--Tenrecinae B78
            |    |--+--Echinops telfairi AH06
            |    |  `--Setifer setosus AH06
            |    `--+--Tenrec AH06 [incl. Centetes M58]
            |       |    `--T. ecaudatus Schreber 1777 SKS05
            |       `--Hemicentetes AH06
            |            |--H. nigriceps H01
            |            `--H. semispinosus M94
            `--Oryzorictinae AH06

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[AH06] Asher, R. J. & M. Hofreiter. 2006. Tenrec phylogeny and the noninvasive extraction of nuclear DNA. Systematic Biology 55 (2): 181-194.

[ANG03] Asher, R. J., M. J. Novacek & J. H. Geisler. 2003. Relationships of endemic African mammals and their fossil relatives based on morphological and molecular evidence. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 10 (1-2): 131-194.

[B74] Bugge, J. 1974. The cephalic arterial system in insectivores, primates, rodents and lagomorphs, with special reference to the systematic classification. Acta Anatomica 87 (Suppl 62): 1-160.

[BP87] Burton, J. A., & B. Pearson. 1987. Collins Guide to the Rare Mammals of the World. Collins: London.

[B78] Butler, P. M. 1978. Insectivora and Chiroptera. In Evolution of African Mammals (V. J. Maglio & H. B. S. Cooke, eds) pp. 56-68. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[CW07] Cote, S., L. Werdelin, E. R. Seiffert & J. C. Barry. 2007. Additional material of the enigmatic Early Miocene mammal Kelba and its relationship to the order Ptolemaiida. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 104 (13): 5510-5515.

[GP11] Goswami, A., G. V. R. Prasad, P. Upchurch, D. M. Boyer, E. R. Seiffert, O. Verma, E. Gheerbrant & J. J. Flynn. 2011. A radiation of arboreal basal eutherian mammals beginning in the Late Cretaceous of India. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108 (39): 16333-16338.

[H01] Hedges, S. B. 2001. Afrotheria: Plate tectonics meets genomics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 98 (1): 1-2.

[IT07] Isaac, N. J. B., S. T. Turvey, B. Collen, C. Waterman & J. E. M. Baillie. 2007. Mammals on the EDGE: conservation priorities based on threat and phylogeny. PLoS One 2 (3): e296.

[JP84] Jolicoeur, P., P. Pirlot, G. Baron & H. Stephan. 1984. Brain structure and correlation patterns in Insectivora, Chiroptera, and Primates. Systematic Zoology 33 (1): 14-29.

[M94] MacPhee, R. D. E. 1994. Morphology, adaptations, and relationships of Plesiorycteropus, and a diagnosis of a new order of eutherian mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 220: 1-214.

[M58] McDowell, S. B., Jr. 1958. The Greater Antillean insectivores. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 115 (3): 113-214.

[SKS05] Scherf, H., B. Koller & F. Schrenk. 2005. Locomotion-related structures in the femoral trabecular architecture of primates and insectivores (Mammalia, Primates and Insectivora). Senckenbergiana Biologica 85 (1): 101-112.

Elephas

Asian elephant Elephas maximus photographed by Manoj Sindagi.

Belongs within: Elephantidae.

Though represented in the modern fauna only by the Asian elephant Elephas maximus, the genus Elephas is first recorded in the middle Pliocene of eastern and southern Africa, spreading from there into the Middle East by the later Pliocene (Coppens et al. 1978). The genus remained widespread in the Old World until it became extinct in Africa and Europe in the late Pleistocene.

Characters (from Coppens et al. 1978): Skull high, forehead fore-shortened. Premaxillary tusk sockets generally widely separated, tusks usually gently curved in a single plane. Frontoparietal surface flat to concave; upper borders of the temporal fossae forming sharp, raised ridges. Mandible corpus strongly convex laterally, condyles transversely elongated and directed upward and inward.

<==Elephas Linnaeus 1758 [incl. Omoloxodon Deraniyagala 1955, Palaeoloxodon Matsumoto 1929, Pilgrimia Osborn 1924] CM78
    |--E. ekorensis Maglio 1970 CM78
    |--+--E. iolensis Pomel 1895 (see below for synonymy) CM78
    |  |--E. recki Dietrich 1916 (see below for synonymy) CM78
    |  `--+--E. falconeri CM78
    |     `--E. namadicus CM78 [=Paleoloxodon namadicus DW04]
    `--+--+--E. celebensis CM78
       |  `--+--E. planifrons [=Archidiskodon planifrons] CM78
       |     `--E. platycephalus CM78
       `--+--E. hysudricus CM78
          `--+--*E. maximus Linnaeus 1758 CM78
             |    |--E. m. maximus B84
             |    |--E. m. bengalensis B84
             |    |--E. m. hirsutus B84
             |    `--E. m. sumatrensis B84
             `--E. hysudrindicus CM78

Elephas iolensis Pomel 1895 [incl. Pilgrimia archidiskodontoides Haughton 1932, Archidiskodon broomi Osborn 1928, A. hanekomi Dart 1929, Palaeoloxodon kuhni Dart 1929, A. sheppardi Dart 1927, Pilgrimia subantiqua Haughton 1932, A. transvaalensis Dart 1927, Pi. wilmani Dart 1920, Pi. yorki Dart 1929] CM78

Elephas recki Dietrich 1916 [=E. (Archidiskodon) recki, Loxodonta (Pilgrimia) antiqua recki, *Omoloxodon recki; incl. Archidiskodon exoptatus Dietrich 1942, E. exoptatus] CM78

*Type species of generic name indicated

==References==

[B84] Barnes, R. F. W. 1984. Elephants. In All the World’s Animals: Hoofed Mammals (D. Macdonald, ed.) pp. 12-21. Torstar Books: New York.

[CM78] Coppens, Y., V. J. Maglio, C. T. Madden & M. Beden. 1978. Proboscidea. In Evolution of African Mammals (V. J. Maglio & H. B. S. Cooke, eds) pp. 336-367. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[DW04] Deng T., Wang X., Ni X. & Liu L. 2004. Sequence of the Cenozoic mammalian faunas of the Linxia Basin in Gansu, China. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) 78 (1): 8-14.