Carnivora
From Freepedia
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Ailuridae |
The diverse order Carnivora includes over 260 placental mammals. While the Giant Panda is an herbivore, nearly all others eat meat as their primary diet item: some (like the cat family) almost exclusively, others (like the bears and foxes) are more omnivorous. Members of Carnivora have a characteristic skull shape, and their dentition includes prominent canines and carnassials.
Phylogeny
Older classification schemes divided the order into two suborders, Fissipedia, which included the families of primarily land carnivores, and suborder Pinnipedia, which included the true seals, eared seals, and walrus.
Newer classification schemes have been able to integrate the findings from molecular techniques for discovering genetic relationships. They generally divide the Carnivora into the suborders Feliformia (cat-like) and Caniformia (dog-like), which includes the pinnipeds. The pinnipeds form a clade with the bears to form the Arctoidea superfamily. The arctoids form a clade that includes another superfamily, containing the mustelids, procyonids, skunks and Ailurus - the Musteloidea. The dogs form an outgroup to these two superfamilies, they were the first of the extant Caniforms to split from the others.
The same studies finaly resolve the exact position of Ailurus : the Red Panda is not a Procyonid nor an Ursid, but forms a monotypic family with the Musteloids as closest living relatives. The same study also shows that the Mustelids are not a primitive family, as was once thought. Their small bodysize is a secondairy trait - the primitive bodyform of the Arctoids was large, not small.
Recent molecular studies suggest that the endemic Carnivora of Madagascar, including three genera classed with the civets and four genera of mongooses classed with the Herpestidae, are all descended from a single ancestor. They form a single sister taxon to the Herpestidae. The hyena's are also closely related to this clade.
The exact position of the cats in relation to the other families is somewhat disputed. Nandinia seems to be the most primitive of all the Feliforms and the very first to split from the others. The genus Prionodon (of the Viverrids) might form a family in it's own as well, as some studies show they are the closest living relatives to the cats.
The position of extinct carnivore families is not clear. Recent studies suggest that the ancient families Miacidae and Viverravidae are not basal members of the Caniformia and Feliformia, so they are not the direct ancestors of any living carnivore family. The Miacidae is not even monophyletic, rather it appears to represent a paraphyletic array of stem taxa.
The Nimravidae are seen as the most basal of all Feliforms, and the first to split from the others. Other studies, however, show that the Nimravids and Felids are closely related. The position of many extinct 'Felids' is not clear - they may or may not be true cats after all. The Amphicyonids are the first of the Caniforms to split off - they do not have the Ursids as closest relatives (as most scientists thought), bur are rather an outgroup to all other Caniforms.
The results of the same study further suggest a much younger minimum age for the crown-clade Carnivora (the divergence age of the subclades Caniformia and Feliformia) than had been inferred in many previous studies: middle-Eocene (ca. 43 million years ago), rather than early Paleocene (60 Ma). It remains unknown if the Creodonta are the closest relatives of the Carnivora, but it seems they are. They are united with the Pholidota and some extinct orders in the clade Ferae.
Classification
- Order Carnivora
- Suborder Feliformia ("Cat-like")
- Family Felidae: cats; 37 species in 18 genera
- Family Herpestidae: mongooses and allies; 35 species in 17 genera
- Family Hyaenidae: hyenas and aardwolf; 4 species in 4 genera
- Family Nandiniidae: African palm civets; 1 species in 1 genus
- Family Nimravidae: false sabre-tooths (extinct)
- Family Viverridae: civets and allies; 35 species in 20 genera
- Suborder Feliformia ("Cat-like")
- Suborder Caniformia ("Dog-like")
- Family Ailuridae: red panda; 1 species in 1 genus.
- Family Amphicyonidae: beardogs (extinct)
- Family Canidae: dogs and allies; 35 species in 10 genera
- Family Mephitidae: skunks and stinkbadgers; 10 species in 3 genera
- Family Mustelidae: weasels, martens, badgers, and otters; 55 species in 24 genera
- Family Odobenidae: Walruses; 1 species in 1 genus
- Family Otariidae: sea lions, eared seals, fur seals; 14 species in 7 genera
- Family Phocidae: true seals; 19 species in 9 genera
- Family Procyonidae: raccoons and allies; 19 species in 6 genera
- Family Ursidae: bears; 8 species in 4 genera
- Suborder Caniformia ("Dog-like")
References
| Mammals |
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| Monotremata |
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Placentalia: Xenarthra | Dermoptera | Desmostylia | Scandentia | Primates | Rodentia | Lagomorpha | Insectivora | Chiroptera | Pholidota | Carnivora | Perissodactyla | Artiodactyla | Cetacea | Afrosoricida | Macroscelidea | Tubulidentata | Hyracoidea | Proboscidea | Sirenia |
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Marsupialia: Didelphimorphia | Paucituberculata | Microbiotheria | Dasyuromorphia | Peramelemorphia | Notoryctemorphia | Diprotodontia |
