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Afrosoricida

The clade Afrosoricida (a Latin-Greek compound name which means "looking like African shrews") contains the golden moles of Southern Africa, the otter shrews of equatorial Africa and the tenrecs of Madagascar. These three groups of small mammals were for most of the 19th and 20th centuries regarded as a part of the Insectivora or Lipotyphla, but both of those groups, as traditionally used, are polyphyletic.

Afrosoricida
Temporal range: Eocene–Recent
Lesser hedgehog tenrec (Echinops telfairi)
Grant's golden mole (Eremitalpa granti)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Mirorder: Afroinsectivora
Order: Afrosoricida
Stanhope MJ, Waddell VG, Madsen O, de Jong W, Hedges SB, Cleven G, Kao D, Springer MS, 1998
Subclades

 †Afrodon
 †Dilambdogale
 †Protenrec
 †Todralestes
 †Widanelfarasia
 ?†Adapisoriculidae
 Chrysochloridea
 Tenrecomorpha

Naming

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Some biologists use Tenrecoidea or Tenrecomorpha as the name for the tenrec-golden mole clade and regard Afrosoricida as a junior synonym (even though the rules of the ICZN do not apply above the Linnean rank of family). This is based on the principles of Simpson,[1] summarized by Asher & Helgen[2] to mean that "priority and stability should comprise the overriding principles by which new, high-level taxa are named. Established names for any given clade should not be altered unless the name with precedent unambiguously threatens stability." When "Afrosoricida" was first named in 1998, Afrosorex was a subgenus of Crocidura and McDowell[3] had used the name Tenrecoidea for the same clade of golden moles and tenrecs. Gary Bronner and Paula Jenkins referred to "Afrosoricida" in their chapter in Wilson & Reeder[4] as "... inappropriate since this clade does not include soricids, and could lead to confusion with the soricid subgenus Afrosorex" but still kept it due to their perception that the name was "entrenched in the recent literature" and because of the admittedly confusing history of terms like Tenrecoidea and Tenrecomorpha.[5] Asher & Helgen[2] presented their views on the appropriateness of these and other high-level taxa, including a response[6] to Hedges,[7] who supported keeping "Afrosoricida".

Biology

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As a rule, tenrecs and otter shrews tend to be small animals varying from 4 cm to 39 cm in length. There is no pronounced body type since they have evolved to occupy a number of small-bodied, faunivorous niches in Madagascar (tenrecines) and mainland Africa (potamogalines). However, certain species bear some ecological similarity to hedgehogs, soricid shrews, or miniature otters. Their coat can vary from smooth to spiny and the coloration of the fur can also vary from brown, gray, to other hues (see for example photos on the ASM library[8]). Most species are also nocturnal and have poor eyesight. Their whiskers are rather sensitive and they can detect very minute vibrations in the ground to locate their prey.

Phylogeny

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Traditionally, these two families were grouped with the hedgehogs, shrews and moles in the Lipotyphla. However, there have always been minority opinions suggesting that Tenrecoidea, or at least the golden moles, are not true lipotyphlans. For example, Robert Broom wrote in 1916[9] that "examination of the skull confirms ... that Chrysochloris is not a near ally of Centetes" (i.e., Tenrec ecaudatus) "and that it is not an Insectivore". These opinions are now supported by many genetic studies indicating an association between tenrecoids and various other African mammals in the Afrotheria.[10][11][12][13] Tenrecs and golden moles are sometimes considered part of the Afroinsectiphilia, a clade within Afrotheria.

Cladogram of living Tenrecoidea

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The generally accepted cladogram of living Tenrecoidea is:[12][13]

 Tenrecoidea 
  Chrysochloroidea  
  Tenrecidae  

Species

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Simpson, G.G. (1945). "The principles of classification and a classification of mammals". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 85: 1–350.
  2. ^ a b Asher, R.J.; Helgen, K.M. (2010). "Nomenclature and placental mammal phylogeny". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 10: 1–9. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-102. PMC 2865478. PMID 20406454.
  3. ^ McDowell, S.B. (1958). "The Greater Antillean Insectivores". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 115: 1–214.
  4. ^ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  5. ^ Stanhope (1998). "Afrosoricida". In Wilson; Reeder (eds.). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Bucknell University – via bucknell.edu/biology.
  6. ^ Asher, R.J.; Helgen, K.M. (2011). "High level Mammalian taxonomy: a response to Hedges (2011)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3092: 63. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3092.1.5.
  7. ^ Hedges, S. Blair (2011-05-05). "On the use of high-level taxonomic names". Zootaxa. 2867 (1): 67. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2867.1.5. ISSN 1175-5334.
  8. ^ "tenrec". Image library. American Society of Mammalogists. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  9. ^ Broom, R. (1916). "On the structure of the skull in Chrysochloris". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1916 (3): 449–459. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1916.tb02024.x.
  10. ^ Stanhope, M.J.; Waddell, V.G.; Madsen, O.; de Jong, W.; Hedges, S.B.; Cleven, G.C.; Kao, D.; Springer, M.S. (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. 95 (17): 9967–9972. Bibcode:1998PNAS...95.9967S. doi:10.1073/pnas.95.17.9967. PMC 21445. PMID 9707584.
  11. ^ Douady, C.J.; Douzery, E.J.P. (2003). "Molecular estimation of eulipotyphlan divergence times and the evolution of "Insectivora"". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 28 (2): 285–296. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00119-2. PMID 12878465.
  12. ^ a b Everson, K.M.; Soarimalala, V.; Goodman, S.M.; Olson, L.E. (2016). "Multiple loci and complete taxonomic sampling resolve the phylogeny and biogeographic history of tenrecs (Mammalia: Tenrecidae) and reveal higher speciation rates in Madagascar's humid forests". Systematic Biology. 65 (5): 890–909. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syw034. PMID 27103169.
  13. ^ a b Upham, Nathan S.; Esselstyn, Jacob A.; Jetz, Walter (2019). "Inferring the mammal tree: Species-level sets of phylogenies for questions in ecology, evolution and conservation". PLOS Biol. 17 (12): e3000494. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3000494. PMC 6892540. PMID 31800571.
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