Euarchonta

Taxobox | name = Euarchontans
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous - Recent

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image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
infraclassis = Eutheria
superordo = Euarchontoglires
unranked_familia = Euarchonta
subdivision_ranks = Orders
subdivision = Dermoptera
Scandentia
Plesiadapiformes (extinct)
PrimatesThe Euarchonta are a superorder of mammals containing four orders: the Dermoptera or colugos, the Scandentia or treeshrews, the extinct Plesiadapiformes, and the Primates.

The term "Euarchonta" (means "true ancestors") first appeared in the general scientific literature in 1999, when molecular evidence suggested that the morphology-based Archonta be trimmed down to exclude Chiroptera. Major DNA sequence analyses of predominantly nuclear sequences (Murphy et al., 2001) support the Euarchonta hypothesis, while a major study investigating mitochondrial sequences supports a different tree topology (Arnason et al, 2002). A study investigating retrotransposon presence/absence data has claimed strong support for Euarchonta (Kriegs et al., 2007). However, the morphological data, together with criticism of the reliability of the molecular data, continues to call into question whether or not bats should be excluded from Archonta.Fact|date=July 2008 In particular, some researchers believe that bats are diphyletic,Fact|date=July 2008 and that some bats (Megachiroptera) are closely related to primates (see Flying primates theory).

Some interpretations of the molecular data link Primates and Dermoptera in a clade known as Primatomorpha, which is the sister of Scandentia. In some the Dermoptera are a member of the primates rather than a sister. Other interpretations link the Dermoptera and Scandentia together in a group called Sundatheria as the sister group of the primates. Together, the three are known as Euarchonta, the "True Founders".

Euarchonta and Glires together form the Euarchontoglires, one of the four Eutherian clades.

Clade
label1=Euarchontoglires
1=Clade
label1=Glires
1=Clade
1=Rodentia (rodents)
2=Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares, pikas)
label2=Euarchonta
2=Clade
1=Scandentia (treeshrews)
2=Clade
1=Dermoptera (flying lemurs)
2=Clade
1=†Plesiadapiformes
2=Primates

References

*Murphy W. J., E. Eizirik, W. E. Johnson, Y. P. Zhang, O. A. Ryder, S. J. O'Brien, 2001a. Molecular phylogenetics and the origins of placental mammals "Nature" 409:614-618. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=11214319&dopt=Abstract]

*Ulfur Arnason, et al. Mammalian mitogenomic relationships and the root of the eutherian tree. "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science" 99: 8151-8156. [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/99/12/8151]

*Jan Ole Kriegs, Gennady Churakov, Jerzy Jurka, Jürgen Brosius, and Jürgen Schmitz (2007) Evolutionary history of 7SL RNA-derived SINEs in Supraprimates. Trends in Genetics 23 (4): 158-161 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2007.02.002] (PDF version [http://zmbe2.uni-muenster.de/expath/articles/31_Kriegs_TiG.pdf] )