Mammalia
Mammals
This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.
The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.
You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.
For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.
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de Jong, W. W. 1998. Molecules remodel the mammalian tree. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 13:270-275.
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Ji, Q., Z. X. Luo, and S. A. Ji. 1999. A Chinese triconodont mammal and mosaic evolution of the mammalian skeleton. Nature 398:326-330.
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Rich, T. H., T. F. Flannery, P. Trusler, and L. Kool. 2002. Evidence that monotremes and ausktribosphenids are not sistergroups. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(2):466-469.
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Shoshani, J. and M. C. McKenna. 1998. Higher taxonomic relationships among extant mammals based on morphology, with selected comparisons of results from molecular data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 9:572-584.
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Springer, M. S., A. Burk, J. R. Kavanagh, V. G. Waddell, and M. J. Stanhope. 1997. The interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein gene in therian mammals: Implications for higher level relationships and evidence for loss of function in the marsupial mole. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 94:13754-13759.
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van Rheede, T., T. Bastiaans, D. N. Boone, S. B. Hedges, W. W. de Jong, and O. Madsen. 2006. The platypus is in its place: Nuclear genes and indels confirm the sister group relation of monotremes and therians. Molecular Biology and Evolution 23:587-597.
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Information on the Internet
- Mammal Tree of Life. A multi-institution collaboration sponsored by the National Science Foundation to build a phylogenetic tree for mammals using data from molecules, anatomy, behavior and physiology of both living and fossil mammals.
- The Ultimate Mammal Family Tree. Videoclip & transcript from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Catalyst programme.
- Controversial Origins: A Discussion With Olaf Bininda-Emonds and John Wible. GEOTIMES, December 2007.
- The Life of Mammals. 2002 BBC television series.
- Division of Mammals. National Museum of Natural History. Smithsonian Institution.
- Mammal species of the world. Smithsonian Institution.
- North American Mammals. Smithsonian Institution.
- The Hall of Mammals. UC Berkeley.
- Class Mammalia. Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
- MANIS. Mammal Networked Information System.
- The American Society of Mammalogists.
- Department of Mammalogy. American Museum of Natural History.
- University of Alaska Museum Mammal Collection. Arctic, boreal, and North Pacific mammals.
- The Mammals of Texas. On-line Edition.
- Animal Info. Information on Rare, Threatened and Endangered Mammals.
- Mammals of Tasmania. Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania.
- Embryo Images Normal and Abnormal Mammalian Development.
- Comparative Mammalian Brain Collections. University of Wisconsin.
- Will's Skull Page. Skulls of British mammals & more.
- Mammal Skulls of Utah.
- Natural History Notebooks: Mammals. Canadian Museum of Nature Online.
- Amazing Animals. BBC Nature Online: The Really Wild Zone.
Links to sites focussing on African and European mammals can be found on the Eutheria page.
Fossil Mammals
- Faunamap. An electronic database for the late Quaternary distribution of mammal species in the United States.
- North American Fossil Mammal Systematics Database. Phylogenies, taxonomic histories, age-ranges, and body mass estimates for genera and species of Cretaceous and Cenozoic North American fossil mammals. Compiled by John Alroy.
- World Heritage Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte). Pleistocene Australian mammals.
- Discovering a Missing Link. Information about Zhangheotherium quinquescuspidens, a Mesozoic symmetrodont. Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
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Tree of Life Web Project. 1995. Mammalia. Mammals. Version 01 January 1995 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Mammalia/15040/1995.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/