Eulipotyphla
| Eulipotyphla Temporal range: Eocene to present |
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|---|---|
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| Common shrew (Sorex araneus) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Magnorder: | Boreoeutheria |
| Superorder: | Laurasiatheria |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Families | |
Eulipotyphla ("truly fat and blind") is an order of mammals suggested by molecular methods of phylogenetic reconstruction, and includes the laurasiatherian members of the now-invalid polyphyletic order Lipotyphla, but not the afrotherian members (tenrecs and golden moles, now in their own order Afrosoricida). Lipotyphla in turn had been derived by removing a number of groups from Insectivora, the previously used wastebasket taxon.
Thus, Eulipotyphla comprises the hedgehogs and gymnures (family Erinaceidae, formerly also the order Erinaceomorpha), solenodons (family Solenodontidae), the desmans, moles, and shrew-like moles (family Talpidae) and true shrews (family Soricidae). True shrews, talpids and solenodons were formerly grouped in the clade Soricomorpha; however, Soricomorpha has been found to be paraphyletic, since erinaceids are the sister group of shrews.
Family-level cladogram of extant eulipotyphlan relationships, following Roca et al. and Brace et al.:
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