Temporary Page

Eutheria

Placental Mammals

Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
  Two-toed sloth juvenile Killer whale
taxon links [up-->]Proboscidea [up-->]Edentata [up-->]Rodentia [up-->]Insectivora [up-->]Lagomorpha [up-->]Perissodactyla [up-->]Sirenia [up-->]Scandentia [up-->]Hyracoidea [up-->]Tubulidentata [up-->]Artiodactyla [up-->]Primates [up-->]Carnivora [up-->]Dermoptera [up-->]Chiroptera [up-->]Cetacea [up-->]Pholidota [up-->]Macroscelidea extinct icon extinct icon extinct icon extinct icon Not Monophyletic[down<--]Mammalia Interpreting the tree
close box

This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

example of a tree diagram

You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

close box
Please note that this tree has not been updated since 1995. We hope to provide an up to date discussion of eutherian relationships on this page soon. For the time being, please refer to the papers cited in the References section.
Containing group: Mammalia

Other Names for Eutheria

References

Adkins, R. M. and R. L. Honeycutt. 1991. Molecular phylogeny of the superorder Archonta. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 88:10317-10321.

Agustí, J. and M. Antón. 2002 Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids: 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe. Columbia University Press, New York.

Allard, M. W., B. E. McNiff, M. M. Miyamoto. 1996. Support for interordinal eutherian relationships with an emphasis on primates and their Archontan relatives. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 5:78-88.

Amrine-Madsen, H., K.-P. Koepfli, R. K. Wayne and M. S. Springer. 2003. A new phylogenetic marker, apolipoprotein B, provides compelling evidence for eutherian relationships. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28(2):225-240.

Archibald, J. D. 1996. Fossil evidence for a Late Cretaceous origin of 'hoofed' mammals. Science 272:1150-1153.

Archibald, J. D. and D. H. Deutschman. 2001. Quantitative analysis of the timing of the origin and diversification of extant placentals. J. Mammal. Evol. 8:107–124.

Archibald, J. D., A. O. Averianov, and E. G. Ekdale. 2001. Late Cretaceous relatives of rabbits, rodents, and other extant eutherian mammals. Nature 414:62-65.

Arnason, U., J. A. Adegoke, K. Bodin, E. W. Born, Y. B. Esa, A. Gullberg, M. Nilsson, R. V. Short, X. Xu, and A. Janke. 2002. Mammalian mitogenomic relationships and the root of the eutherian tree. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 99:8151–8156.

Arnason, U., A. Gullberg, S. Gretarsdottir, B. Ursing, and A. Janke. 2000. The mitochondrial genome of the sperm whale and a new molecular reference for estimating eutherian divergence dates. Journal of Molecular Evolution 50:569-578.

Arnason, U., A. Gullberg, and A. Janke. 1997. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA suggest a sister group relationship between Xenarthra (Edentata) and Ferungulates. Molecular Biology and Evolution 14:762-768.

Arnason, U., A. Gullberg, and A. Janke. 1999. The mitochondrial DNA molecule of the aardvark, Orycteropus afer, and the position of the Tubulidentata in the eutherian tree. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 266: 339-345.

Arnason, U. and A. Janke. 2002. Mitogenomic analyses of eutherian relationships. Cytogenet. Genome Res. 96:20–32.

Asher, R. J. 2007. A database of morphological characters and a combined-data reanalysis of placental mammal phylogeny. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7:108.

Asher, R. J., J. Meng, J. R. Wible, M. C. McKenna, G. W. Rougier, D. Dashzeveg, and M. J. Novacek. 2005. Stem Lagomorpha and the antiquity of Glires. Science 307(5712):1091-1094.

Asher, R. J., M. J. Novacek, and J. H. Geisler. 2003. Relationships of endemic African mammals and their fossil relatives based on morphological and molecular evidence. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 19:131–194.

Bininda-Emonds, O. R. P., M. Cardillo, K. E. Jones, R. D. E. MacPhee, R. M. D. Beck, R. Grenyer, S. A. Price, R. A. Vos, J. L. Gittleman, and A. Purvis. 2007. The delayed rise of present-day mammals. Nature 446:507-512.

Bronner, G. N., M. Hoffman, P. J. Taylor, C. T. Chimimba, P. B. Best, C. A. Mathee, and T. J. Robinson. 2003. A revised systematic checklist of the extant mammals of the southern African subregion. Durban Museum Novitates 28:56–106.

Cao, Y., J. Adachi, A. Janke, S. Pääbo, and M. Hasegawa. 1994. Phylogenetic relationships among eutherian orders estimated from inferred sequences of mitochondrial proteins - instability of a tree based on a single gene. Journal of Molecular Evolution 39:519-527.

Cao, Y., A. Janke, P. J. Waddell, M. Westerman, O. Takenaka, S. Murata, N. Okada, S. Pääbo, and M. Hasegawa. 1998. Conflict among individual mitochondrial proteins in resolving the phylogeny of eutherian orders. Journal of Molecular Evolution 47:307-322.

Cao, Y., N. Okada, and M. Hasegawa. 1997. Phylogenetic position of guinea pigs revisited. Molecular Biology and Evolution 14:461-464.

Carter, A. M. 2001. Evolution of the placenta and fetal membranes seen in the light of molecular phylogenetics. Placenta 22:800-807.

Corbet,G.B. and J. E. Hill. 1992. The Mammals of the Indomalayan Region : A Systematic Review. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Corneli, P. S. and R. H. Ward. 2000. Mitochondrial genes and mammalian phylogenies: Increasing the reliability of branch length estimation. Molecular Biology and Evolution 17:224-234.

Corneli, P. S. 2002. Complete mitochondrial genomes and eutherian evolution. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 9:281-305.

Debry, R. W. 1999. Maximum likelihood analysis of gene-based and structure-based process partitions, using mammalian mitochondrial genomes. Systematic Biology 48:286-299.

de Jong, W. W., M. A. M. van Dijka, C. Pouxa, G. Kappéa, T. van Rheedea, and O. Madsen. 2003. Indels in protein-coding sequences of Euarchontoglires constrain the rooting of the eutherian tree. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28(2):328-340.

Delsuc, F., M. Scally, O. Madsen, M. J. Stanhope, W. W. de Jong, F. M. Catzeflis, M. S. Springer, and E. J. Douzery. 2002. Molecular phylogeny of living xenarthrans and the impact of character and taxon sampling on the placental tree rooting. Molecular Biology and Evolution 19:1656–1671.

D'Erchia, A. M., C. Gissi, G. Pesole, C. Saccone, and U. Arnason. 1996. The guinea-pig is not a rodent. Nature 381:597-600.

Douzery, E. and F. M. Cazeflis. 1995. Molecular evolution of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA in Ungulata (Mammalia). Journal of Molecular Evolution 41:622-636.

Douzery, E. J. and D. Huchon. 2004. Rabbits, if anything, are likely Glires. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33:922–935.

Easteal, S. 1999. Molecular evidence far the early divergence of placental mammals. BioEssays 21:1052-1058.

Emerson, G. L., C. W. Kilpatrick, B. E. McNiff, J. Ottenwalder, and M. W. Allard. 1999. Phylogenetic relationships of the order insectivora based on complete 12S rRNA sequences from mitochondria. Cladistics 15:221-230.

Estes, R. D. 1991. The Behavior Guide to African Mammals. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Foote, M., J. P. Hunter, C. M. Janis, and J. J. Sepkoski. 1999. Evolutionary and preservational constraints on origins of biologic groups: Divergence times of eutherian mammals. Science 283:1310-1314.

Frye, M. S. and S. B. Hedges. 1995. Monophyly of the order Rodentia inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences of the genes for 12S ribosomal RNA, 16S ribosomal RNA, and transfer RNA valine. Molecular Biology and Evolution 12:168-176.

Gatesy, J. 1997. More DNA support for a Cetacea/Hippopotamidae clade: the blood-clotting protein gene gamma-fibrinogen. Molecular Biology and Evolution 14:537-543.

Gatesy, J., M. Milinkovitch, V. Waddell, and M. Stanhope. 1999. Stability of cladistic relationships between Cetacea and higher-level Artiodactyl taxa. Systematic Biology 48:6-20.

Gatesy, J., P. O'Grady, and R. H. Baker. 1999. Corroboration among data sets in simultaneous analysis: Hidden support for phylogenetic relationships among higher level artiodactyl taxa. Cladistics 15:271-313.

Gatesy, J. and M. A. O'Leary. 2001. Deciphering whale origins with molecules and fossils. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16:562-570.

Geisler, J.H. and M.D. Uhen. 2003. Morphological support for a close relationship between hippos and whales. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23:991-996.

Gibson, A., V. Gowri-Shankar, P. G. Higgs, and M. Rattray. 2005. A comprehensive analysis of mammalian mitochondrial genome base composition and improved phylogenetic methods. Molecular Biology and Evolution 22:251–264.

Graur, D. 1993. Toward a molecular resolution of the ordinal phylogeny of the eutherian mammals. FEBS Letters 325:152-159.

Graur, D., L. Duret, and M. Gouy. 1996. Phylogenetic position of the order Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares and allies). Nature 379:333-335.

Graur, D., M. Gouy, and L. Duret. 1997. Evolutionary affinities of the order Perissodactyla and the phylogenetic status of the superordinal taxa Ungulata and Altungulata. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 7:195-200.

Graur, D., W. A. Hide, and W.-H. Li. 1991. Is the guinea pig a rodent? Nature 351:649-652.

Graur, D. and D. Higgins. 1994. Molecular evidence for the inclusion of cetaceans within the order Artiodactyla. Molecular Biology and Evolution 11:357-364.

Halanych, K. M. 1998. Lagomorphs misplaced by more characters and fewer taxa. Systematic Biology 47:138-146.

Hallstrom, B. M., M. Kullberg, M. A. Nilsson, and A. Janke. 2007. Phylogenomic data analyses provide evidence that Xenarthra and Afrotheria are sister groups. Molecular Biology and Evolution 24(9):2059 - 2068.

Hasegawa, M., Y. Cao, J. Adachi, and T. Yano. 1992. Rodent polyphyly. Nature 355:595.

Hauf, J., P. J. Waddell, N. Chalwatzis, U. Joger, and F. K. Zimmermann. 1999. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), phylogenetic relationships of Proboscidea to other mammals, and D-loop heteroplasmy. Zoology - Analysis of Complex Systems 102:184-195.

Honeycutt, R. L. and R. M. Adkins. 1993. Higher-level systematics of eutherian mammals–an assessment of molecular characters and phylogenetic hypotheses. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 24: 279-305.

Huchon D., O. Madsen, M.J.J.B. Sibbald, K. Ament, M. J. Stanhope, F. Catzeflis, W. W. De Jong, and E. J. P. Douzery. 2002. Rodent phylogeny and a timescale for the evolution of glires: Evidence from an extensive taxon sampling using three nuclear genes. Molecular Biology and Evolution 19(7):1053-1065.

Hudelot, C., V. Gowri-Shankar, H. Jow, M. Rattray, and P. G. Higgs. 2003. RNA-based phylogenetic methods: application to mammalian mitochondrial RNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28:241-252.

Hunter, J. P. and C. M. Janis. 2006. Spiny Norman in the Garden of Eden? Dispersal and early biogeography of Placentalia. J. Mammal. Evol. 13:89–123.

Irwin, D. M. and U. Arnason. 1994. Cytochrome b gene of marine mammals: phylogeny and evolution. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 2:37-55.

Janis, C. M., K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs, eds. 1998. Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America: Volume 1, Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulate-like Mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Janis, C. M., G. F. Gunnell, and M. D. Uhen, eds. 2008. Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America: Volume 2, Small Mammals, Xenarthrans, and Marine Mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Ji, Q., Z.-X. Luo, C.-X. Yuan, J. R. Wible, J.-P. Zhang, and J. A. Georgi. 2002. The earliest known eutherian mammal. Nature 416:816-822.

Kingdon, J. 1997. The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. Academic Press, London.

Kitazoe, Y., H. Kishino, P. J. Waddell, N. Nakajima, T. Okabayashi, T. Watabe, and Y. Okuhara. 2007. Robust time estimation reconciles views of the antiquity of placental mammals. PLoS ONE 2(4): e384.

Kjer, K. M. and R. L. Honeycutt. 2007. Site specific rates of mitochondrial genomes and the phylogeny of Eutheria. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7:8.

Kleineidam, R. G., G. Pesole, H. J. Breukelman, J. J. Beintema, R. A. Kastelein. 1999. Inclusion of cetaceans within the order Artiodactyla based on phylogenetic analysis of pancreatic ribonuclease genes. Journal of Molecular Evolution 48:360-368.

Kriegs, J. O., G. Churakov, M. Kiefmann, U. Jordan, J. Brosius, and J. Schmitz. 2006. Retroposed elements as archives for the evolutionary history of placental mammals. PLoS Biology 4:e91.

Kullberg, M., M. A. Nilsson, U. Arnason, E. H. Harley, and A. Janke. 2006. Housekeeping genes for phylogenetic analysis of eutherian relationships. Molecular Biology and Evolution 23(8):1493-1503.

Kupfermann, H., Y. Satta, N. Takahata, H. Tich, and J. Klein. 1999. Evolution of Mhc-DRB introns: Implications for the origin of primates. Journal of Molecular Evolution 48:663-674.

Lavergne, A., E. Douzery, T. Stichler, F. M. Catzeflis, and M. S. Springer. 1996. Interordinal mammalian relationships: Evidence for paenungulate monophyly is provided by complete mitochondrial 125 rRNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 6:245-258.

Li, W., M. Gouy, P. M. Sharp, C. O'HUigin, and Y. Yang. 1990. Molecular Phylogeny of Rodentia, Lagomorpha, Primates, Artiodactyla, and Carnivora and Molecular Clocks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 87:6703-6707.

Lin, Y.-H., P. A. McLenachan, A. R. Gore, M. J. Phillips, R. Ota, M. D. Hendy, and D. Penny. 2002. Four new mitochondrial genomes and the increased stability of evolutionary trees of mammals from improved taxon sampling. Molecular Biology and Evolution 19(12):2060 - 2070.

Liu, F. G. R. and M. M. Miyamoto. 1999. Phylogenetic assessment of molecular and morphological data for eutherian mammals. Systematic Biology 48:54-64.

Liu, F. G. R., M. M. Miyamoto, N. P. Freire, P. Q. Ong, M. R. Tennant, T. S. Young, and K. F. Gugel. 2001. Molecular and morphological supertrees for eutherian (placental) mammals. Science 291:1786-1789.

Luckett, W. P. and J.-L. Hartenberger. 1993. Monophyly or polyphyly of the order Rodentia: possible conflict between morphological and molecular interpretations. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 1:127-147.

Luckett, W. P. and N. Hong. 1998. Phylogenetic relationships between the orders Artiodactyla and Cetacea: a combined assessment of morphological and molecular evidence. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 5:127-182.

Madsen, O., P. M. T. Deen, G. Pesole, C. Saccone, and W. W. deJong. 1997. Molecular evolution of mammalian aquaporin-2: Further evidence that elephant shrew and aardvark join the paenungulate clade. Molecular Biology and Evolution 14:363-371.

Madsen, O., M. Scally, C. J, Douady, D. J. Kao, R. W. Debry, R. Adkins, H. M. Ambrine, M. J. Stanhope, W. W. DeJong, and M. S. Springer. 2001. Parallel adaptive radiations in two major clades of placental mammals. Nature 409 :610-614.

Malia, M. J. Jr, R. M. Adkins, and M. W. Allard. 2002. Molecular support for Afrotheria and the polyphyly of Lipotyphla based on analyses of the growth hormone receptor gene. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 24:91–101.

McNiff, B.E. and M. W. Allard. 1998. A test of Archonta monophyly and the phylogenetic utility of the mitochondrial gene 12S rRNA. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 107:225-241.

Milinkovitch, M. C. and J. G. M. Thewissen. 1997. Even-toed fingerprints on whale ancestry. Nature 388:622-624.

Misawa, K. and A. Janke. 2003. Revisiting the Glires concept––phylogenetic analysis of nuclear sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28(2):320-327.

Misawa, K. and M. Nei. 2003. Reanalysis of Murphy et al.’s data gives various mammalian phylogenies and suggests overcredibility of Bayesian trees. Journal of Molecular Evolution57(Suppl 1):S290–S296.

Miyamoto, M. M. 1996. A congruence study of molecular and morphological data for Eutherian mammals. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 6:373-390.

Montgelard, C., F. M. Catzeflis, and E. Douzery. 1997. Phylogenetic relationships of artiodactyls and cetaceans as deduced from the comparison of cytochrome b and 12S rRNA mitochondrial sequences. Molecular Biology and Evolution 14:550-559.

Mouchaty, S. K., A. Gullberg, A. Janke, and U. Arnason. 2000. The phylogenetic position of the Talpidae within eutheria based on analysis of complete mitochondrial sequences. Molecular Biology and Evolution 17:60-67.

Murata, Y., M. Nikaido, T. Sasaki, Y. Cao, Y. Fukumoto, M. Hasegawa and N. Okada. 2003. Afrotherian phylogeny as inferred from complete mitochondrial genomes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28(2):253-260.

Murphy, W. J., E. Eizirik, S. J. O'Brien, O. Madsen, M. Scally, C. J. Douady, E. Teeling, O. A. Ryder, M. J. Stanhope, W. W. de Jong, and M. S. Springer. 2001. Resolution of the early placental mammal radiation using Bayesian phylogenetics. Science 294:2348-2351.

Murphy, W. J., E. Eizirik, W. E. Johnson, Y. P. Zhang, O. A. Ryder, and S. J. O'Brien. 2001. Molecular phylogenetics and the origins of placental mammals. Nature 409:614-618.

Murphy, W. J., P. A. Pevzner, and S. J. O’Brien. 2004. Mammalian phylogenomics comes of age. Trends in Genetics 20:631–639.

Murphy, W. J., T. H. Pringle, T. A. Crider, M. S. Springer, and W. Miller. 2007. Using genomic data to unravel the root of the placental mammal phylogeny. Genome Research 17:413–421.

Nikaido, M., A. P. Rooney, and N. Okada. 1999. Phylogenetic relationships among cetartiodactyls based on insertions of short and long interspersed elements: hippopotamuses are the closest extant relatives of whales. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 96:10261-10266.

Nikolaev, S., J. I. Montoya-Burgos, E. H. Margulies, N. C. Program, J. Rougemont, B. Nyffeler, and S. E. Antonarakis. 2007. Early history of mammals is elucidated with the ENCODE multiple species sequencing data. PLoS Genetics 3:e2.

Nishihara, H., M. Hasegawa, and N. Okada. 2006. Pegasoferae, an unexpected mammalian clade revealed by tracking ancient retroposon insertions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 103(26):9929-9934.

Nishihara, H., N. Okada, and M. Hasegawa. 2007. Rooting the eutherian tree: the power and pitfalls of phylogenomics. Genome Biol 8:R199.

Nishihara, H., Y. Satta, M. Nikaido, J. G. M. Thewissen, M. J. Stanhope, and N. Okada. 2005. A retroposon analysis of afrotherian phylogeny. Molecular Biology and Evolution 22(9):1823-1833.

Novacek, M. J. 1992. Fossils, topologies, missing data, and the higher level phylogeny of eutherian mammals. Systematic Biology 41:58-73.

Novacek, M. J. 1996. Where do rabbits and kin fit in? Nature 379:299-300.

Novacek, M. J., G. W. Rougier, J. R. Wible, M. C. McKenna, D. Dashzeveg, and I. Horovitz. 1997. Epipubic bones in eutherian mammals from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Nature 389:483-486.

O'Leary, M. A. and J. H. Geisler. 1999. The position of Cetacea within Mammalia: Phylogenetic analysis of morphological data from extinct and extant taxa. Systematic Biology 48:455-490.

O'Leary, M. A. 1999. Parsimony analysis of total evidence from extinct and extant taxa and the cetacean-artiodactyl question (Mammalia, Ungulata). Cladistics 15:315-330.

O'Leary M. A. 2001. The phylogenetic position of cetaceans: Further combined data analyses, comparisons with the stratigraphic record and a discussion of character optimization. American Zoologist 41: 487-506.

Onuma, M., T. Kusakabe, and S. Kusakabe. 1998. Phylogenetic positions of Insectivora in Eutheria inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit II gene. Zoological Science 15:139-145.

Ozawa, T., S. Hayashi, and V. M. Mikhelson. 1997. Phylogenetic position of Mammoth and Steller's sea cow within Tethytheria demonstrated by mitochondrial DNA sequences. Journal of Molecular Evolution 44:406-413.

Philippe, H. 1997. Rodent monophyly: Pitfalls of molecular phylogenies. Journal of Molecular Evolution 45:712-715.

Philippe, H. and E. Douzery. 1994. The pitfalls of molecular phylogeny based on four species, as illustrated by the Cetacea/Artiodactyla relationships. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 2:133-152.

Phillips, M. J. and D. Penny. 2003. The root of the mammalian tree inferred from whole mitochondrial genomes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28:171–185.

Porter, C. A., M. Goodman, M. J. Stanhope. 1996. Evidence on mammalian phylogeny from sequences of exon 28 of the von Willebrand factor gene. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 5:89-101.

Prasad, A. B. and M. W. Allard, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, and E. D. Green. 2008. Confirming the phylogeny of mammals by use of large comparative sequence data sets. Molecular Biology and Evolution 25:1795-1808. doi:10.1093/molbev/msn104

Prothero, D.R and R.M. Schoch. 1993. Horns, Tusks, Hooves, and Flippers: The Evolution of Hoofed Mammals and Their Relatives. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

Pumo, D. E., P. S. Finamore, W. R. Franek, C. J. Phillips, S. Tarzami, and D. Balzarano. 1998. Complete mitochondrial genome of a neotropical fruit bat, Artibeus jamaicensis, and a new hypothesis of the relationships of bats to other eutherian mammals. Journal of Molecular Evolution 47:709-717.

Redi, C. A., S. Garagna, M. Zuccotti, and E. Capanna. 2007. Genome size: A novel genomic signature in support of Afrotheria. Journal of Molecular Evolution 64(4):484-487.

Reynolds, J. E. and S. A. Rommel. 1999. Biology of Marine Mammals. Smithsonian Institution Press, Wahington, D.C.

Reyes, A., C. Gissi, F. Catzeflis, E. Nevo, G. Pesole, and C. Saccone. 2004. Congruent mammalian trees from mitochondrial and nuclear genes using Bayesian methods. Molecular Biology and Evolution 21(2):397 - 403.

Reyes, A., C. Gissi, G. Pesole, F. M. Catzeflis, and C. Saccone. 2000. Where do rodents fit? Evidence from the complete mitochondrial genome of Sciurus vulgaris. Molecular Biology and Evolution 17:979-983.

Reyes, A., G. Pesole, and C. Saccone. 1998. Complete mitochondrial DNA sequence of the fat dormouse, Glis glis: Further evidence of rodent paraphyly. Molecular Biology and Evolution 15:499-505.

Robinson, T. J. and E. R. Seiffert. 2004. Afrotherian origins and interrelationships: new views and future prospects. Current Topics in Developmental Biology 63:37-60.

Rose, K. D. 1996. On the origin of the order Artiodactyla. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 93:1705-1709.

Rose, K. D. and J. D. Archibald, eds. 2005. The Rise of Placental Mammals. Origins and Relationships of the Major Clades. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Scally, M., O. Madsen, C. J. Douady, W. W. de Jong, M. J. Stanhope, and M. S. Springer. 2002. Molecular evidence for the major clades of placental mammals. J. Mammal. Evol. 8:239–277.

Schmitz, J., M. Ohme, B. Suryobroto, and H. Zischler. 2002. The colugo (Cynocephalus variegatus, Dermoptera): The primates' gliding sister? Molecular Biology and Evolution 19(12):2308 - 2312.

Schmitz, J. and H. Zischler. 2003. A novel family of tRNA-derived SINEs in the colugo and two new retrotransposable markers separating dermopterans from primates. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28:341-349.

Shimamura, M., H. Yasue, K. Ohshima, H. Abe, H. Kato, T. Kishiro, M. Goto, I. Munechika, and N. Okada. 1997. Molecular evidence from retroposons that whales form a clade within even-toed ungulates. Nature 388:666-670.

Shoshani, J. and M. C. McKenna. 1998. Higher taxonomic relationships among extant mammals based on morphology, with selected comparisons of results from molecular data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 9:572–584.

Skinner, J. D. and C. T. Chimimba. 2005. The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion, 3rd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Springer, M. S. , H. M. Amrine, A. Burk, and M. J. Stanhope. 1999. Additional support for Afrotheria and Paenungulata, the performance of mitochondrial versus nuclear genes, and the impact of data partitions with heterogeneous base composition. Systematic Biology 48:65-75.

Springer, M. S. , G. C. Cleven, O. Madsen, W. W. deJong, V. G. Waddell, H. M. Amrine, and M. J. Stanhope. 1997. Endemic African mammals shake the phylogenetic tree. Nature 388:61-64.

Springer, M. S. and W. W. deJong. 2001. Which mammalian supertree to bark up? Science 291:1709-1711.

Springer, M. S., W. J. Murphy, E. Eizirik, and S. J. O'Brien. 2003. Placental mammal diversification and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 100(3):1056-1061.

Springer, M. S., M. J. Stanhope, O. Madsen, and W. W. de Jong. 2004. Molecules consolidate the placental mammal tree. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 19(8):430-438.

Stanhope, M.J., O. Madsen, V. G. Waddell, G. C. Cleven, W. W. de Jong, and M. S. Springer. 1998. Highly congruent molecular support for a diverse superordinal clade of endemic African mammals. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 9:501-508.

Stanhope, M. J., M. R. Smith, V. G. Waddell, C. A. Porter, M. S. Shivji, and M. Goodman. 1996. Mammalian evolution and the interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP) gene: Convincing evidence for several superordinal clades. Journal of Molecular Evolution 43:83-92.

Stanhope, M. J., V. G. Waddell, O. Madsen, W. de Jong, S. B. Hedges, G. C. Cleven, D. Kao, and M. S. Springer. 1998. Molecular evidence for multiple origins of Insectivora and for a new order of endemic African insectivore mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 95:9967-9972.

Sullivan, J. and D. L. Swofford. 1997. Are guinea pigs rodents? The importance of adequate models in molecular phylogenetics. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 4:77-86.

Szalay, F. S., M. J. Novacek, and M. C. McKenna (eds.) 1993. Mammal Phylogeny. Volume 2. Placentals. Springer Verlag, New York.

Thewissen, J.G.M. and S.I. Madar. 1999. Ankle morphology of the earliest Cetaceans and its implications for the phylogenetic relations among Ungulates. Systematic Biology 48:21-30.

van Dijk, M. A. M., E. Paradis, F. Catzeflis, and W. W. De Jong. 1999. The virtues of gaps: Xenarthran (Edentate) monophyly supported by a unique deletion in alphaA-crystallin. Systematic Biology 48: 94-106.

van Dijk, M. A. M., O. Madsen, F. Catzeflis, M. J. Stanhope, W. W. de Jong, and M. Pagel. 2001. Protein sequence signatures support the African clade of mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 98:188-193.

Waddell, P.J., Y. Cao, J. Hauf, and M. Hasegawa. 1999. Using novel phylogenetic methods to evaluate mammalian mtDNA, including amino acid-invariant sites-LogDet plus site stripping, to detect internal conflicts in the data, with special reference to the positions of hedgehog, armadillo, and elephant. Systematic Biology 48:31-53.

Waddell, P.J., Y. Cao, M. Hasegawam and D. P. Mindell. 1999. Assessing the Cretaceous superordinal divergence times within birds and placental mammals by using whole mitochondrial protein sequences and an extended statistical framework. Systematic Biology 48:119-137.

Waddell, P.J., H. Kishino, and R. Ota. 2001. A phylogenetic foundation for comparative mammalian genomics. Genome Informatics 12:141–154.

Waddell, P.J., N. Okada, and M. Hasegawa. 1999. Towards resolving the interordinal relationships of placental mammals. Systematic Biology 48:1-5.

Waddell, P. J. and S. Shelley. 2003. Evaluating placental inter-ordinal phylogenies with novel sequences including RAG1, -fibrinogen, ND6, and mt-tRNA, plus MCMC-driven nucleotide, amino acid, and codon models. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28(2):197-224.

Waters, P.D., G. Dobigny, P.J. Waddell, T. J. Robinson. 2007. Evolutionary history of LINE-1 in the major clades of placental mammals. PLoS ONE 2(1):e158.

Wible, J. R., G. W. Rougier, M. J. Novacek, and R. J. Asher. 2007. Cretaceous eutherians and Laurasian origin for placental mammals near the K/T boundary. Nature 447:1003-1006.

Wildman, D. E., M. Uddin, J. C. Opazo, G. Liu, V. Lefort, S. Guindon, O. Gascuel, L. I. Grossman, R. Romero, and M. Goodman. 2007. Genomics, biogeography, and the diversification of placental mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 104(35):14395-14400.

Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder, eds. 2005. Mammal Species of the World. Third Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.

Xu, X. F., A. Janke, and U. Arnason. 1996. The complete mitochondrial DNA sequence of the greater Indian rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis, and the phylogenetic relationship among Carnivora, Perissodactyla, and Artiodactyla (plus Cetacea). Molecular Biology and Evolution 13:1167-1173.

Zack, S. P., T. A. Penkrot, J. I. Bloch, and K. D. Rose. 2005. Affinities of 'hyopsodontids' to elephant shrews and a Holarctic origin of Afrotheria. Nature 434:497–501.

Information on the Internet

Fossil Eutheria

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Oreamnos americanus
Location Olympic National Park, Washington, USA
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source IH026511
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2007 Billy Trent, CPO,USN-Ret
Scientific Name Loxodonta africana
Comments African elephant
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Copyright © 2000 Greg and Marybeth Dimijian
Two-toed sloth juvenile
Scientific Name Choloepus hoffmani
Comments Two-toed sloth
Life Cycle Stage juvenile
Copyright © 2000 Greg and Marybeth Dimijian
Killer whale
Scientific Name Orcinus orca
Comments Killer whale
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Copyright © 1999 Brian Scott
About This Page

Page: Tree of Life Eutheria. Placental Mammals. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Tree of Life Web Project. 1997. Eutheria. Placental Mammals. Version 01 January 1997 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Eutheria/15997/1997.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

edit this page
close box

This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Eutheria

Page Content

articles & notes

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top