Scrotifera

Scrotifera is a proposed clade of mammals within Laurasiatheria, consisting of the following six traditional orders and their common ancestors: Artiodactyla, Cetacea, Perissodactyla, Carnivora, Pholidota, and Chiroptera.

Etymology

The name comes from the word scrotum, a pouch in which the testes permanently reside in the adult male. All members of the group have a postpenile scrotum, often prominently displayed, except for some aquatic forms and pangolin (which has the testes just below the skin). It appears to be an ancestral character for this group, yet other orders generally lack this as an ancestral feature, with the probable exception of Primates.[1]

Phylogeny

The clade Scrotifera is based on evidence from molecular phylogenetics.[1][2] The monophylogeny of the group is well supported, but there is some debate about the internal order, with Pegasoferae being an alternative to that shown in the following cladogram.


Boreoeutheria
   Laurasiatheria   

 Eulipotyphla


   Scrotifera   

 Chiroptera


   Fereuungulata   
   Ferae   

 Pholidota



 Carnivora



   Euungulata   

 Perissodactyla    



 Artiodactyla (includes Cetacea (whales and dolphins), also called Cetartiodactyla)







Euarchontoglires



See also

References

  1. 1 2 Waddell; et al. (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 (1): 31–53. doi:10.1080/106351599260427. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  2. Zhou, X.; et al. (2011). "Phylogenomic analysis resolves the interordinal relationships and rapid diversification of the Laurasiatherian mammals". Systematic Biology. 61 (1): 150–64. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syr089. PMC 3243735Freely accessible. PMID 21900649. Retrieved 3 October 2011. (Advance Access; published online 7 September 2011) "Our reconstructions resolve the interordinal relationships within Laurasiatheria and corroborate the clades Scrotifera, Fereungulata, and Cetartiodactyla."
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