Ungulate - Relationships

Ungulates (meaning roughly "hoofed" or "hoofed animal") make up several orders of mammals, of which six to eight survive. There is some dispute as to whether ungulate should be treated as an actual cladistic (evolution-based) group, or merely a phenetic group (similar, but not necessarily related), in light of the fact that all ungulates do not appear to be as closely related as once believed (see below). Ungulates include: Artiodactyla: even-toed ungulates, such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, antelope, a ...

Including:

• Ungulate - Relationships
• Ungulate - Recent Developments

Read more here: » Ungulate: Encyclopedia - Ungulate

The Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla make up the largest portion of ungulates, and also comprise the majority of large land mammals. These two groups first appeared during the late Paleocene and early Eocene (about 54 million years ago), rapidly spreading to a wide variety of species on numerous continents, and have developed in parallel since that time. Although whales and dolphins (Cetacea) do not posess most of the typical morphological characteristics of ungulates, recent discoveries have suggested that they are likely descended fr ...

See also:

Ungulate, Ungulate - Relationships, Ungulate - Recent Developments

Read more here: » Ungulate: Encyclopedia II - Ungulate - Relationships

That these groups of mammal are most closely related to each other has occasionally been questioned on anatomical and genetic grounds. Molecular phylogenetic studies have suggested that Perissodactyla and Cetartiodactyla are closest to Carnivora and Pholidota rather than to the Pseudungulata. The Pseudungulata are by some scientists united with the Afrosoricida in the cohort or super-order Afrotheria based on molecular and DNA analysis. Thi ...

See also:

Ungulate, Ungulate - Relationships, Ungulate - Recent Developments

Read more here: » Ungulate: Encyclopedia II - Ungulate - Recent Developments