What does afrotheria mean?

Definitions for afrotheria
afrothe·ri·a

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word afrotheria.


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Wikipedia

  1. Afrotheria

    Afrotheria is a clade of mammals, the living members of which belong to groups that are either currently living in Africa or of African origin: golden moles, elephant shrews (also known as sengis), tenrecs, aardvarks, hyraxes, elephants, sea cows, and several extinct clades. Most groups of afrotheres share little or no superficial resemblance, and their similarities have only become known in recent times because of genetics and molecular studies. Many afrothere groups are found mostly or exclusively in Africa, reflecting the fact that Africa was an island continent from the early Cenozoic until around 25 million years ago when the Tethys Sea shrank. Because Africa was isolated by water, Laurasian groups of mammals such as insectivores, rodents, rabbits, carnivorans and large herbivores could not reach Africa for much of the early to mid Cenozoic. Instead, the niches occupied by those groups on the northern continents were filled by various groups of afrotheres via the process of convergent evolution. The small insectivorous afrotheres such as elephant shrews, golden moles, and tenrecs filled the niches of insectivores, the hyraxes filled the roles of rodents and rabbits, the aardvarks filled the roles of various medium size ant-eating mammals (anteaters, armadillos, pangolins, echidnas, numbats, etc.) found on other continents throughout the Cenozoic, and proboscideans (elephants and their relatives) filled the roles of large herbivores such as hippos and rhinos. The sirenians quickly became aquatic and started spreading to other parts of the world by water, evolving convergently with the other groups of marine mammals. In addition to their similarity with Laurasian mammals in North America, Europe, and Asia, many afrotheres also exhibit convergent evolution with groups of mammals that evolved and lived exclusively in South America, which was also an island continent for much of the Cenozoic. The common ancestry of these animals was not recognized until the late 1990s. Historically, the Paenungulata had been linked to other ungulates; the golden mole, tenrecs, and elephant shrews with the traditional (and polyphyletic) Insectivora; and the aardvarks with the pangolins and the xenarthrans within the invalid taxon Edentata. Continuing work on the molecular and morphological diversity of afrotherian mammals has provided ever increasing support for their common ancestry.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of afrotheria in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of afrotheria in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

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"afrotheria." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/afrotheria>.

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