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Another difference between the two orders is that many artiodactyls (except for Suina) digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine (as perissodactyls do). Molecular biology, along with new fossil discoveries, has found that cetaceans ( whales , dolphins , and porpoises ) fall within this taxonomic ...
The two extant orders of ungulates are the Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates) and Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates). Hyracoidea (hyraxes) , Sirenia (sea cows, dugongs and manatees) and Proboscidea (elephants) were in the past grouped within the clade "Ungulata", later found to be a polyphyletic and now invalid clade.
The order Artiodactyla consists of 349 extant species belonging to 132 genera. This does not include hybrid species or extinct prehistoric species. Modern molecular studies indicate that the 132 genera can be grouped into 23 families; these families are grouped into named suborders and many are further grouped into named clades, and some of these families are subdivided into named subfamilies.
Panperissodactyla ("all perissodactyls", alternatively spelled Pan-Perissodactyla [2]) is a clade of ungulates containing living order Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates) and all extinct ungulates more closely related to Perissodactyla than to Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates). [1]
Perissodactyla is an order of placental mammals composed of odd-toed ungulates – hooved animals which bear weight on one or three of their five toes with the other toes either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing backwards. Members of this order are called perissodactyls, and include rhinoceroses, tapirs, and horses.
The white rhinoceros is the largest living perissodactyl. Perissodactyla (/ p ə ˌ r ɪ s oʊ ˈ d æ k t ɪ l ə /, from Ancient Greek περισσός, perissós 'odd' and δάκτυλος, dáktylos 'finger, toe' [3]), or odd-toed ungulates, is an order of ungulates.
Laurasiatheria (/ l ɔː r ˌ eɪ ʒ ə ˈ θ ɪər i ə,-θ ɛr i ə /; "Laurasian beasts") is a superorder of placental mammals that groups together true insectivores (eulipotyphlans), bats (chiropterans), carnivorans, pangolins (), even-toed ungulates (artiodactyls), odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls), and all their extinct relatives.
Cetacea (/ s ɪ ˈ t eɪ ʃ ə /; from Latin cetus 'whale', from Ancient Greek κῆτος () 'huge fish, sea monster') [3] is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.