The Archonta are a now-abandoned group of mammals, considered a
superorder in some classifications, which consists of these orders:
*
Primate
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...
s
*
Plesiadapiformes (extinct primate-like archontans)
*
Scandentia (treeshrews)
*
Dermoptera (colugos)
While bats were traditionally included in the Archonta, recent genetic analysis has suggested that bats actually belong in
Laurasiatheria
Laurasiatheria ("laurasian beasts") is a superorder of placental mammals that groups together true insectivores ( eulipotyphlans), bats ( chiropterans), carnivorans, pangolins ( pholidotes), even-toed ungulates ( artiodactyls), odd-toed ungulat ...
.
A revised category,
Euarchonta
The Euarchonta are a proposed grandorder of mammals: the order Scandentia (treeshrews), and its sister Primatomorpha mirorder, containing the Dermoptera or colugos and the primates (Plesiadapiformes and descendents).
The term "Euarchonta" (mea ...
, excluding bats, has been proposed.
This taxon may have arisen in the
Early Cretaceous (more than 100 million years ago), so other models may explain mammalian evolution besides an explosive
radiation from a single surviving lineage following the
Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction of the
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...
megafauna, such as a series of prior radiations related to the
breakup of
Gondwana and
Laurasia allowing for more survivors.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q954525
Mammal taxonomy
Mammal superorders
Placentalia
Obsolete mammal taxa