Afrotherian

Quick meaning: Afrotherian is an adjective meaning (zoology) Belonging or pertaining to the superorder Afrotheria, which includes the elephants, aardvarks, golden moles, tenrecs, etc.

Meaning

(zoology) Belonging or pertaining to the superorder Afrotheria, which includes the elephants, aardvarks, golden moles, tenrecs, etc.

More Meanings

1. (zoology) A placental that belongs to the superorder Afrotheria, such as an elephant, aardvark, golden mole, tenrec, etc.

Example Sentences

As their name implies, afrotherians putatively represent a radiation of placentals rooted in the African continent and nearby island of Madagascar.

Although the monophyly of Afrotheria is well supported by recent molecular studies, the interrelationships within afrotherian mammals remain unclarified.

Just as molecular evidence from living mammals would predict, the African fossil record documents the presence of several afrotherian groups by early or middle Eocene time.

Alternatively, the afrotherians may have originated in Europe, and an elephant-shrew like creature crossed into Africa and gave rise to the great diversity of afrotherians—from elephants to golden moles—that inhabit the continent today.

Word Forms

• afrotherians

Synonyms for afrotherian

Depending on context, synonyms include afrothere.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include metatherian, eutherian, pithecoid, ametabolian, metatherial, megafaunal.

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