Glires (, Latin ''glīrēs'' '
dormice
A dormouse is a rodent of the family (biology), family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are nocturnal animals found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are named for their ...
') is a
clade
In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
(sometimes
ranked as a grandorder) consisting of
rodents and
lagomorphs (
rabbits,
hares, and
pikas). The hypothesis that these form a
monophyletic
In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria:
# the grouping contains its own most recent co ...
group has been long debated based on morphological evidence. Two morphological studies, published in 2001 and 2003, strongly support the monophyly of Glires. In particular, the 2003 study reported the discovery of
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
material of
basal members of Glires, particularly the
genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
''
Mimotona'', ''
Gomphos'', ''
Heomys'', ''
Matutinia'', ''
Rhombomylus'', and ''
Sinomylus''. Their description, in 2005, helped to bridge the gap between more typical rodents and lagomorphs. Data published in 2001, based on
nuclear DNA, supported Glires as a sister of
Euarchonta to form
Euarchontoglires, but some genetic data from both nuclear and
mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...
have been less supportive. A study, published in 2007, investigating
retrotransposon presence/absence data unambiguously supports the Glires hypothesis. Studies published in 2011 and 2015
place
Scandentia as a sister clade of the Glires, invalidating Euarchonta as a clade.
Citations
General and cited sources
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Euarchontoglires
Extant Paleocene first appearances
Mammal taxonomy
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