Zooamata ("animal friends") is a proposal for a clade of mammals uniting the Ferae (carnivores and pangolins) with the Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates).

Zooamata
Temporal range: early Paleocene to present
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Scrotifera
Clade: Pegasoferae
Clade: Zooamata
Waddell, 1999[1]
Subgroups

Zoomata was proposed as one of the competing arrangements for the interordinal relationships of placental mammals within Laurasiatheria.[1] It received support in a phylogenetic study using retroposon insertion analysis, where it was found to be the sister taxon to Chiroptera within a novel clade named Pegasoferae.[2] The Zooamata and Cetartiodactyla (even-toed ungulates and whales) together form Scrotifera.

The name of this clade is constructed from Greek and Latin to mean "animal friends", a reference to the inclusion of cats, dogs, and horses, all of which have been domesticated by humans.

Subsequent molecular studies have generally failed to support the proposal.[3][4][5] In particular, two recent phylogenomic studies analysing alternative theories for mammalian interordinal relationships concluded that Zooamata and Pegasoferae are not natural groupings.[6][7] The competing proposal linking the Perissodactyla and Cetartiodactyla in a clade named Euungulata, as a sister to the Ferae, in Scrotifera received stronger support.

Phylogeny

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The following cladogram shows the phylogenetic relationships of laurasiatherian mammals following Nishihara et al. (2006).[2]

 Laurasiatheria 

References

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  1. ^ a b Waddell, Peter J.; Okada, Norihiro; Hasegawa, Masami (1999). "Towards Resolving the Interordinal Relationships of Placental Mammals". Systematic Biology. 48 (1): 1–5. doi:10.1093/sysbio/48.1.1. PMID 12078634.
  2. ^ a b Nishihara, H.; Hasegawa, M.; Okada, N. (2006). "Pegasoferae, an unexpected mammalian clade revealed by tracking ancient retroposon insertions". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 103 (26): 9929–9934. doi:10.1073/pnas.0603797103. PMC 1479866. PMID 16785431.
  3. ^ Matthee, Conrad A.; Eick, Geeta; Willows-Munro, Sandi; Montgelard, Claudine; Pardini, Amanda T.; Robinson, Terence J. (2007). "Indel evolution of mammalian introns and the utility of non-coding nuclear markers in eutherian phylogenetics". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 42 (3): 827–837. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.10.002. PMID 17101283.
  4. ^ Springer, M. S.; Burk-Herrick, A.; Meredith, R.; Eizirik, E.; Teeling, E.; O'Brien, S. J.; Murphy, W. J. (2007). "The adequacy of morphology for reconstructing the early history of placental mammals". Systematic Biology. 56 (4): 673–684. doi:10.1080/10635150701491149. PMID 17661234.
  5. ^ Kitazoe, Yasuhiro; Kishino, Hirohisa; Waddell, Peter J.; Nakajima, Noriaki; Okabayashi, Takahisa; Watabe, Teruaki; Okuhara, Yoshiyasu (2007). Hahn, Matthew (ed.). "Robust Time Estimation Reconciles Views of the Antiquity of Placental Mammals". PLoS ONE. 2 (4): e384. Bibcode:2007PLoSO...2..384K. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000384. PMC 1849890. PMID 17440620.
  6. ^ Zhou, Xuming; Xu, Shixia; Xu, Junxiao; Chen, Bingyao; Zhou, Kaiya; Yang, Guang (2011). "Phylogenomic Analysis Resolves the Interordinal Relationships and Rapid Diversification of the Laurasiatherian Mammals". Systematic Biology. 61 (1): 150–164. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syr089. PMC 3243735. PMID 21900649.
  7. ^ Tsagkogeorga, G; Parker, J; Stupka, E; Cotton, J. A.; Rossiter, S. J. (2013). "Phylogenomic analyses elucidate the evolutionary relationships of bats (Chiroptera)". Current Biology. 23 (22): 2262–2267. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.09.014. PMID 24184098.