Directory

Encyclopedia

NodeWorks
                              ENCYCLOPEDIA

Link Checker

Home
Encyclopedia : P : PA : PAC :

Pachydermata

 

Pachydermata

The Pachydermata was an order of mammals described by Georges Cuvier and at one time recognised by many systematists. The order Pachydermata is no longer in use but is important in the history of systematics. Although it is often described as an artificial grouping of unrelated mammals, it was recognised as a grade of hooved mammals to the exception of other Ungulates by zoologists such as Charles Darwin, and anatomical characters do support the affinities of "Pachyderm" mammals to each other and to other Ungulates.

Cuvier's Pachydermata included the mammals now placed within Perissodactyla, Hyracoidea, and Proboscidea, as well as the Suina within Artiodactyla. Therefore modern "Pachydermata" would be represented by the horses and their relatives, the tapirs, the rhinoceroses, the elephants, the hippopotamuses, the peccaries and the pigs.


NodeWorks boosts web surfing!
Page Returned in 0.190 seconds - HTML Compressed 69.7%

This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
 GNU Free Documentation License
© 2008 Chamas Enterprises Inc.