Mammals and Relatives
Class Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Bovidae
Bovidae
Camelidae
Camelidae
Cervidae
Cervidae
Dichobunidae
Dichobunidae
Hippopotamidae
Hippopotamidae
Tayassuidae
Tayassuidae
Carnivora
Canidae
Canidae
Felidae
Felidae
Mustelidae
Mustelidae
Ursidae
Ursidae
Cetacea
Basilosauridae
Basilosauridae
Pakicetidae
Pakicetidae
Protocetidae
Protocetidae
Creodonta
Oxyaenidae
Oxyaenidae
Hyaenodontidae
Hyaenodontidae
Lagomorpha
Leporidae
Leporidae
Mesonychia
Mesonychidae
Mesonychidae
Perissodactyla
Brontotheriidae
Brontotheriidae
Equidae
Equidae
Hyracodontidae
Hyracodontidae
Isectolophidae
Isectolophidae
Rhinocerotidae
Rhinocerotidae
Proboscidea
“Proboscidea” is the order of mammals that includes living elephants and their relatives, going back to the early Cenozoic. Proboscideans possess a “trunk” derived from tissues of the nose, face, and upper lip, and most have “tusks” – enlarged, ever-growing incisor teeth. They arose in Africa and later spread to Eurasia and North and South America. The only living representatives are two species of African elephant and one species of Asian elephant, but many Cenozoic faunas included proboscideans – sometimes several species.
Elephantidae
Elephantidae
Mammutidae
Mammutidae
Proprimates
Plesiadapidae
Plesiadapidae
Rodentia
Castoridae
Castoridae
Sciuridae
Sciuridae
Sirenia
Dugongidae
Dugongidae
Soricomorpha
Soricidae
Soricidae
Xenarthra
The superorder Xenarthra includes extant tree sloths, armadillos, and anteaters as well as glyptodonts and ground sloths (which went extinct in the late Pleistocene). Xenarthra means “strange joint”. This refers to unique supplementary articulations present in the vertebral column of these mammals.
Glyptodontidae
Glyptodontidae
Megalonychidae
Megalonychidae
Non-mammalian Synapsids
The group Synapsida is the amniote lineage that leads to mammals. It includes all living mammals, their closest extinct relatives, as well as more distant extinct relatives that look superficially quite different from mammals. The technical definition of Synapsida is all amniotes that are more closely related to mammals than to birds. The fossil animals that are synapsids but not mammals are called “non-mammalian synapsids” (these used to be somewhat confusingly called “mammal-like reptiles“). Some well-known examples of non-mammalian synapsids are Dimetrodon, Edaphosaurus, and Kannemeyeria.
Dicynodontidae
Dicynodontidae
Kannemeyeriidae
Kannemeyeriidae
Lystrosauridae
Lystrosauridae
Sphenacodontidae
Sphenacodontidae
Edaphosauridae
Edaphosauridae