Out of Africa: A New Afrotheria Lineage Rises From Extinct South American Mammals

2021/07/05 by Leonardo dos Santos Ávilla, Dimila Mothé · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.654302

openalex publication_date 2021/07/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

The South American native ungulates (SANUs) are usually overlooked in Eutherian phylogenetic studies. In the rare studies where they were included, the diversity of SANUs was underrated, keeping their evolutionary history poorly known. Some authors recognized the SANUs as a monophyletic lineage and formally named it Meridiungulata. Here, we recognized and defined a new supraordinal lineage of Eutheria, the Sudamericungulata, after performing morphological phylogenetic analyses including all lineages of SANUs and Eutheria. The SANUs resulted as non-monophyletic; thus, Meridiungulata is not a natural group; Litopterna and “Didolodontidae” are Panameriungulata and closer to Laurasiatheria than to other “Meridiungulata” (Astrapotheria, Notoungulata, Pyrotheria, and Xenungulata). The other “Meridiungulata” is grouped in the Sudamericungulata, as a new monophyletic lineage of Afrotheria Paenungulata, and shared a common ancestor with Hyracoidea. The divergence between the African and South American lineages is estimated to Early Paleocene, and their interrelationships support the Atlantogea biogeographic model. Shortly afterward, the Sudamericungulata explosively diversified in its four lineages. Confronting the Sudamericungulata evolutionary patterns and the Cenozoic natural events (such as tectonics and climatic and environmental changes, among others) helps to unveil a new chapter in the evolution of Gondwanan Eutheria, as well as the natural history of South America during the Cenozoic.

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Cited by

• Did some extinct South American native ungulates arise from an afrothere ancestor? A critical appraisal of Avilla and Mothé’s (2021) Sudamericungulata – Panameridiungulata hypothesis
• A new SANU (Mammalia, Panperissodactyla) from the early Eocene levels of the Lumbrera Formation at Los Cardones National Park (Salta Province, Northwestern Argentina)
• 2022 in paleomammalogy [wikipedia]
• South American native ungulates [wikipedia]