Zooamata
Encyclopedia
Zooamata is a proposed clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 of mammals consisting of Ferae
Ferae
Ferae is a clade of mammals, consisting of the orders Carnivora and Pholidota . Pangolins do not look much like carnivorans , and were thought to be the closest relatives of Xenarthra...

 (carnivores and pangolin
Pangolin
A pangolin , also scaly anteater or Trenggiling, is a mammal of the order Pholidota. There is only one extant family and one genus of pangolins, comprising eight species. There are also a number of extinct taxa. Pangolins have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with...

s) and Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates). Together with Cetartiodactyla
Cetartiodactyla
Cetartiodactyla is the clade in which whales and even-toed ungulates have currently been placed. The term was coined by merging the name for the two orders, Cetacea and Artiodactyla, into a single word. The term Cetartiodactyla reflects the idea that whales evolved within the artiodactyls...

 (even-toed ungulates and whales) and chiroptera (bats) it forms Scrotifera
Scrotifera
Scrotifera is a proposed clade of mammals within Laurasiatheria, consisting of the following orders and their common ancestors:* Chiroptera* Carnivora* Pholidota* Perissodactyla* Cetacea* ArtiodactylaIt is based on evidence from molecular phylogenetics....

 (formerly Ferungulata
Ferungulata
Ferungulata is traditionally a clade with the rank of cohort within the placental mammals. Established by George Gaylord Simpson in 1945, it includes the Carnivora, Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla as well as Tubulidentata and a superorder, Paenungulata, plus a number of orders known only as fossils...

), and is part of Laurasiatheria
Laurasiatheria
Laurasiatheria is a large group of placental mammals believed to have originated on the northern supercontinent of Laurasia. It includes shrews, hedgehogs, pangolins, bats, whales, most hoofed mammals, and carnivorans, among others....

. The name is constructed from Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 to mean "animal friends", a reference to the inclusion of cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...

s, dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

s, and horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s.

A conflicting proposal links the Perissodactyla and Cetartiodactyla in a clade named Euungulata
Euungulata
Euungulata is a proposed clade of mammals within Laurasiatheria, consisting of the following orders and their common ancestors:* Perissodactyla* Cetacea* ArtiodactylaIt is based on evidence from molecular phylogenetics...

. Both proposals are based on molecular evidence, but neither of these clades is fully supported.

Cladogram

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