The Archonta are a now-abandoned group of mammals, considered a superorder in some classifications, which consists of these orders: *

Primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

s *

Plesiadapiformes Plesiadapiformes (" Adapid-like" or "near Adapiformes") is an extinct basal pan-primates group, as sister to the rest of the pan-primates. The pan-primates together with the Dermoptera form the Primatomorpha. '' Purgatorius'' may not be a pr ...

(extinct primate-like archontans) * Scandentia (treeshrews) * Dermoptera (colugos) While bats were traditionally included in the Archonta, genetic analysis has suggested that bats actually belong in

Laurasiatheria Laurasiatheria (; "Laurasian beasts") is a superorder of Placentalia, placental mammals that groups together true insectivores (eulipotyphlans), bats (chiropterans), carnivorans, pangolins (Pholidota, pholidotes), even-toed ungulates (Artiodacty ...

. A revised category excluding bats, Euarchonta, has been proposed. This taxon may have arisen in the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

(more than 100 million years ago), so other models may explain mammalian evolution besides an explosive

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...

from a single surviving lineage following the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction of the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

megafauna In zoology, megafauna (from Ancient Greek, Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and Neo-Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common threshold is approximately , this lower en ...

, such as a series of prior radiations related to the

breakup A relationship breakup, breakup, or break-up is the ending of a Interpersonal relationship, relationship. The act is commonly termed "dumping omeone in slang when it is initiated by one partner. The term is less likely to be applied to a ma ...

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

and

Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pa ...

allowing for more survivors.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q954525 Mammal taxonomy Mammal superorders Placentalia Obsolete mammal taxa