Paenungulatomorpha

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Paleocene - Recent, {{fossilrange|61|0}}

| image = Paenungulata.png

| image_caption = Crowned paenungulates and Ocepeia

| taxon = Paenungulatomorpha

| authority = Gheerbrant, 2016

| subdivision_ranks = Subgroups

| subdivision =

{{extinct}}Hadrogeneios
{{extinct}}Ocepeia
{{extinct}}Abdounodus
Paenungulata

}}

Paenungulatomorpha is a clade of afrotherian mammals that can be characterized according to Gheerbrant et al. (2016){{Cite journal|author1=Emmanuel Gheerbrant |author2=Andrea Filippo |author3=Arnaud Schmitt |year=2016 |title=Convergence of Afrotherian and Laurasiatherian Ungulate-Like Mammals: First Morphological Evidence from the Paleocene of Morocco |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=11 |issue=7 |pages=e0157556 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0157556 |pmid=27384169 |pmc=4934866|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1157556G |doi-access=free }}:

by a mandibular retromolar fossa, the absence of hypocone, an ectoloph selenodont and linked to strong styles such as mesostyle in basal taxa, and a more or less developed pseudohypocone.

Originally it was thought paenungulates were closely related to the perissodactyls in the clade Altungulata due to shared attributes in the dental, osteological and soft-tissues.{{Cite journal

| last = Fischer | first = Martin S.

| title = Die Stellung der Schliefer (Hyracoidea) im phylogenetischen System der Eutheria

| year = 1986 | journal = Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg | volume = 84 | pages = 1–132 | isbn = 9783924500214 | oclc = 15682192 }}{{Cite book

| last1 = Prothero | first1 = Donald R.

| last2 = Schoch | first2 = Robert M.

| chapter = Origin and Evolution of the Perissodactyla: Summary and Synthesis | pages =504–37

| title = The Evolution of Perissodactyls

| editor1-last = Prothero | editor1-first = Donald R.

| editor2-last = Schoch | editor2-first = Robert M.

| year = 1989 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = New York

| chapter-url = http://www.donaldprothero.com/files/47440280.pdf | access-date = 5 May 2013

| isbn = 9780195060393 | oclc = 19268080 }}{{Cite book | last = Rose | first = Kenneth David| title = The beginning of the age of mammals| year = 2006 | publisher = JHU Press | location = Baltimore| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3bs0D5ix4VAC| isbn = 0801884721 }} However this view was contested as molecular studies have widely supported that paenungulates are not related to the perissodactyls, instead more related to the widely different clade Afroinsectiphilia, with them forming the clade Afrotheria.{{cite journal|last=Stanhope|first=M. J.|author2=Waddell, V. G.|author3=Madsen, O.|author4=de Jong, W.|author5=Hedges, S. B.|author6=Cleven, G. C.|author7=Kao, D.|author8= Springer, M. S.|title=Molecular evidence for multiple origins of Insectivora and for a new order of endemic African insectivore mammals|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|year=1998|volume=95|issue=17|pages=9967–9972|doi=10.1073/pnas.95.17.9967|pmid=9707584|pmc=21445|bibcode = 1998PNAS...95.9967S |doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|last=Springer|first=Mark S.|author2=Michael J. Stanhope |author3=Ole Madsen |author4= Wilfried W. de Jong |title=Molecules consolidate the placental mammal tree|journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution|year=2004|volume=19|issue=8|pages=430–438|doi=10.1016/j.tree.2004.05.006|url=http://faculty.cns.uni.edu/~spradlin/evolution/Readings.blocked/mammaltrees.pdf |pmid=16701301}}{{cite journal|last=Robinson|first=T. J.|author2=Fu, B. |author3=Ferguson-Smith, M. A. |author4= Yang, F. |title=Cross-species chromosome painting in the golden mole and elephant-shrew: support for the mammalian clades Afrotheria and Afroinsectiphillia but not Afroinsectivora|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|year=2004|volume=271|issue=1547|pages=1477–1484|doi=10.1098/rspb.2004.2754|pmid=15306319 |pmc=1691750}}{{cite journal | last1 = Nishihara | first1 = H. | last2 = Satta | first2 = Y. | last3 = Nikaido | first3 = M. | last4 = Thewissen | first4 = J.G.M. | last5 = Stanhope | first5 = M.J. | last6 = Okada | first6 = N. | year = 2005 | title = A retroposon analysis of Afrotherian phylogeny | journal = Molecular Biology and Evolution | volume = 22 | issue = 9| pages = 1823–1833 | doi = 10.1093/molbev/msi179 | pmid = 15930154 | doi-access = free }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Scornavacca C, Belkhir K, Lopez J, Dernat R, Delsuc F, Douzery EJ, Ranwez V | title = OrthoMaM v10: Scaling-up orthologous coding sequence and exon alignments with more than one hundred mammalian genomes | journal = Molecular Biology and Evolution | volume = 36 | issue = 4 | pages = 861–862 | date = April 2019 | pmid = 30698751 | pmc = 6445298 | doi = 10.1093/molbev/msz015 }} There has been also some morphological data to support Afrotheria,{{cite journal|last=Tabuce|first=R.|author2=Marivaux, L. |author3=Adaci, M. |author4=Bensalah, M. |author5=Hartenberger, J.-L. |author6=Mahboubi, M. |author7=Mebrouk, F. |author8=Tafforeau, P. |author9= Jaeger, J.-J. |title=Early Tertiary mammals from North Africa reinforce the molecular Afrotheria clade|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|date=2007|volume=274|issue=1614|pages=1159–1166|doi=10.1098/rspb.2006.0229|pmid=17329227 |pmc=2189562}}{{cite journal|last=Seiffert|first=Erik R|title=A new estimate of afrotherian phylogeny based on simultaneous analysis of genomic, morphological, and fossil evidence|journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology|year=2007|volume=7|issue=1|pages=224|doi=10.1186/1471-2148-7-224|pmid=17999766|pmc=2248600 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2007BMCEE...7..224S }}{{cite journal|last=Sánchez-Villagra|first=Marcelo R.|author2=Narita, Yuichi |author3=Kuratani, Shigeru |title=Thoracolumbar vertebral number: The first skeletal synapomorphy for afrotherian mammals|journal=Systematics and Biodiversity|year=2007|volume=5|issue=1|pages=1–7|doi=10.1017/S1477200006002258|bibcode=2007SyBio...5Q...1S |s2cid=85675984}} though the paleontological record to support was lacking until reexamination of the genera Ocepeia{{Cite journal|author1=Emmanuel Gheerbrant |author2=Mbarek Amaghzaz |author3=Baadi Bouya |author4=Florent Goussard |author5=Charlène Letenneur |year=2014 |title=Ocepeia (Middle Paleocene of Morocco): The Oldest Skull of an Afrotherian Mammal |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=e89739 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0089739 |pmid=24587000 |pmc=3935939|bibcode=2014PLoSO...989739G |doi-access=free }} and Abdounodus, as well as the description of the basal Hadrogeneios in 2023{{Cite journal |last=Gheerbrant |first=Emmanuel |date=2023-04-27 |title=Ancestral radiation of paenungulate mammals (Paenungulatomorpha)—new evidence from the Paleocene of Morocco |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2023.2197971 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=42 |issue=5 |language=en |doi=10.1080/02724634.2023.2197971 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }} has shown not only fossil evidence for the inclusion of paenungulates as afrotherians but also any morphological similarities between paenungulates and perissodactyls is due to convergence.