Biologists made this group based on DNAsequence analysis.[1] Afrotheria are one of four major groups in the Eutheria (placental mammals). Afrotheria means "African animals", "afro" for Africa and "theria" for animals.
Relations between the various afrotherian orders are still being studied. Elephants and manatees seem to be related, and likewise elephant shrews and aardvarks.[3] These findings are compatible with the work of earlier anatomists.[4][5]
↑Stanhope M.J. et al 1998. Molecular evidence for multiple origins of Insectivora and for a new order of endemic African insectivore mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences95 (17): 9967–9972. [1]
↑Prasad A.B; Allard M.W; NISC Comparative Sequencing Program and Green E.D. 2008. Confirming the phylogeny of mammals by use of large comparative sequence data sets. Mol Biol Evol25: 1795–1808
↑Svartman M. & Stanyon R. 2012. The chromosomes of Afrotheria and their bearing on mammalian genome evolution. Cytogenet Genome Res. [2]
↑Simpson G.G. 1945. The principles of classification and a classification of mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History85: 1-350.
↑Tabuce R; Asher R.J. & Lehmann T. 2008. Afrotherian mammals: a review of current data. Mammalia72: 2-14.
↑"Afrosoricida". Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
↑McDowell, S. B. 1958. The Greater Antillean insectivores. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 115: 115--213.
↑Gheerbrant, Emmanuel et al 2014. Ocepeia (Middle Paleocene of Morocco): the oldest skull of an Afrotherian mammal. PLoS ONE9 (2): e89739. [3]
↑Tabuce, Rodolphe et al 2007. Early Tertiary mammals from North Africa reinforce the molecular Afrotheria clade. Proc. R. Soc. B 2007 274, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2006.0229
↑Horovitz, Ines et al 2005. Ankle structure in Eocene pholidotan mammal Eomanis krebsi and its taxonomic implications. Acta Palaeontol. Pol. 50 (3): 545–548