Cetartiodactyla
Cetartiodactyla is the taxonomical superorder which includes whales (and dolphins) and even-toed ungulates. The name was created by merging the name for the two orders, Cetacea and Artiodactyla, into a single word.
| Cetartiodactyls Temporal range: late Palaeocene - Recent
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| (unranked): | Cetartiodactyla
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Cetartiodactyla is used because it is thought that whales evolved from the artiodactyls. Because of this, their closest living land relative may be the hippopotamus.
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Wikispecies has information on: Cetartiodactyla. |
Cetartiodactyla Media
- Entelodon Sp Illustration.jpg
Entelodonts were stocky animals with a large head, and were characterized by bony bumps on the lower jaw.
- MEPAN Sivatherium.jpg
Sivatherium was a relative of giraffes with deer-like forehead ossicones.
- Anoplotherium commune quadrupedal.png
Anoplotherium was the first fossil artiodactyl genus to be named, with a history dating back to 1804. It lived in Europe as part of the endemic family Anoplotheriidae during the late Eocene-earliest Oligocene.
Richard Owen coined the term "even-toed ungulate."
Molecular and morphological studies confirmed that cetaceans are the closest living relatives of hippopotamuses.
Hippopotamuses are a geologically young group, which raises questions about their origin.
Recherches pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des mammifères (Pl. 80) (white background)
- Voyage en Abyssinie Plate 2 (white background).jpg
Voyage en Abyssinie Plate 2 (white background)
- Cladogram of Cetacea within Artiodactyla (Camelus bactrianus).png
Cladogram of Cetacea within Artiodactyla (Camelus bactrianus)
- Tragulus napu - 1818-1842 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam - (white background).jpg
Tragulus napu - 1818-1842 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam - (white background)