Mesaxonia (near-synonymous with Panperissodactyla) is a clade of
ungulate
Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, cam ...
s whose weight is distributed on the third toe on all legs through the plane symmetry of their feet. For a while it was often seen to only contain the order
Perissodactyla (which includes the equines, rhinos and tapirs). Recent work in morphological cladistics and ancient DNA suggests that several extinct lineages, like the
Desmostylia
The Desmostylia (from Greek δεσμά ''desma'', "bundle", and στῦλος ''stylos'', "pillar") are an extinct order of aquatic mammals that existed from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) to the late Miocene ( Tortonian) ().
Desmostylians are t ...
and some of the South American ungulates of
Meridiungulata
South American native ungulates, commonly abbreviated as SANUs, are extinct ungulate-like mammals of controversial affinities that were indigenous to South America prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange. They comprise five major groups co ...
(both groups traditionally seen as Afrotherian relatives) are related to the perissodactyls.
Classification
*Mesaxonia
**†
Dinocerata
Dinocerata (from the Greek (), "terrible", and (), "horn") is an extinct order of plant-eating hoofed mammals with horns and protuberant canine teeth.
Classification
A 2015 phylogenetic study recovered Dinocerata as closely related to '' ...
[BURGER, Benjamin J., THE SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE SABER-TOOTHED AND HORNED GIANTS OF THE EOCENE: THE UINTATHERES (ORDER DINOCERATA), Utah State University Uintah Basin Campus, Vernal, UT, United States of America, 84078, SVP 2015]
**†
Phenacodontidae
Phenacodontidae is an extinct family (biology), family of large herbivorous mammals traditionally placed in the “wastebasket taxon” Condylarthra, which may instead represent early-stage Perissodactyla, perissodactyls. They lived in the Paleo ...
**Panperissodactyla
***†Anthracobunia
****†
Anthracobunidae
Anthracobunidae is an extinct family of stem perissodactyls that lived in the early to middle Eocene period. They were originally considered to be a paraphyletic family of primitive proboscideans possibly ancestral to the Moeritheriidae and the ...
****†
Cambaytheriidae
Cambaytheriidae is a family of primitive four or five-toed ungulates native to the Indian subcontinent. They lived during the Early Eocene epoch and are distinguished by the presence of bunodont teeth suitable for eating tough vegetation. They ar ...
****†
Desmostylia
The Desmostylia (from Greek δεσμά ''desma'', "bundle", and στῦλος ''stylos'', "pillar") are an extinct order of aquatic mammals that existed from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) to the late Miocene ( Tortonian) ().
Desmostylians are t ...
?
***†
Litopterna
Litopterna (from grc, λῑτή πτέρνα "smooth heel") is an extinct order of fossil hoofed mammals from the Cenozoic era. The order is one of the five great orders of South American ungulates that were endemic to the continent, until the G ...
***†
Notoungulata
Notoungulata is an extinct order of mammalian ungulates that inhabited South America from the early Paleocene to the Holocene, living from approximately 61 million to 11,000 years ago. Notoungulates were morphologically diverse, with forms resemb ...
***
Perissodactyla
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6821149
Ungulates
Taxa described in 1884
Mammal taxonomy
Controversial mammal taxa