Mammal - Classification, Class Mammalia, Monotremes, Marsupials & Placental Mammals (2024)

The higher classification of the class Mammalia is based on consideration of a broad array of characters. Traditionally, evidence from comparative anatomy was of predominant importance, but, more recently, information from such disciplines as physiology, serology (the study of immune reactions in body fluids), and genetics has proved useful in considering relationships. Comparative study of living organisms is supplemented by the findings of paleontology. Study of the fossil record adds a historical dimension to knowledge of mammalian relationships. In some cases—the horses, for example—the fossil record has been adequate to allow lineages to be traced in great detail.

Relative to that of other major vertebrate groups, the fossil record of mammals is good. Fossilization depends upon a great many factors, the most important of which are the structure of the organism, its habitat, and conditions at the time of death. The most common remains of mammals are teeth and the associated bones of the jaw and skull. Enamel covering the typical mammalian tooth is composed of prismatic rods of crystalline apatite and is the hardest tissue in the mammalian body. It is highly resistant to chemical and physical weathering. Because of the abundance of teeth in deposits of fossil mammals, dental characteristics have been stressed in the interpretation of mammalian phylogeny and relationships. Dental features are particularly well suited for this important role in classification because they reflect the broad radiation of mammalian feeding specializations from the primitive predaceous habit.

This classification is modified from that of Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell (1997) to classify higher categories of mammals with significant contributions from Don E. Wilson and DeeAnn M. Reeder (2005); extinct groups are not listed.

• Class Mammalia (mammals)

  Approximately 5,500 species in 29 orders.

  • Subclass Prototheria (monotremes, egg-laying mammals)

    Here 5 species are classified in 2 orders, but monotremes have traditionally been classified together in a single order, Monotremata.

    • Order Tachyglossa (echidnas)

      4 species in 1 family.

    • Order Platypoda (platypus)

      1 species.

  • Subclass Theria (live-bearing mammals)

    • Metatheria (marsupials)

      More than 330 species in 7 orders.

      • Order Diprotodontia (kangaroos, koalas, wombats, possums, and kin)

        More than 140 species in 11 families.

      • Order Dasyuromorphia (carnivorous marsupials)

        About 70 species in 3 families, not including the extinct thylacine (Tasmanian wolf), sole member of family Thylacinidae.

      • Order Peramelemorphia (bandicoots and bilbies)

        About 21 species in 3 families.

      • Order Notoryctemorphia (marsupial moles)

        2 species in 1 family.

      • Order Microbiotheria (monito del monte)

        1 species (Dromiciops gliroides).

      • Order Didelphimorphia (opossums)

        About 90 species in 1 family.

      • Order Paucituberculata (shrew, or rat, opossums)

        6 species in 1 family.

    • Eutheria (placental mammals)

      More than 5,000 species in 20 orders.

      • Order Rodentia (rodents)

        Nearly 2,300 species in 30 families.

      • Order Chiroptera (bats)

        More than 1,100 species in 18 families.

      • Order Soricomorpha (shrews, moles, and kin)

        About 430 species in 4 families. Moles (family Talpidae) are sometimes classified with hedgehogs in Erinaceomorpha.

      • Order Afrosoricida (golden moles and tenrecs)

        About 50 species in 2 families.

      • Order Erinaceomorpha (hedgehogs)

        24 species in 1 family.

      • Order Primates (humans, apes, monkeys, lemurs, and kin)

        About 375 species in 15 families. Colugos are sometimes classified as a separate order, Dermoptera.

      • Grandorder Ungulata (ungulates)

        About 350 species in 7 orders.

        • Order Artiodactyla (even-toed hoofed ungulates)

          About 240 species in 10 families, including giraffes, camels, deer, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and kin.

        • Order Cetacea (whales, dolphins, and porpoises)

          More than 80 species in 11 families.

        • Order Perissodactyla (odd-toed hoofed ungulates)

          17 species in 3 families, including horses, rhinoceroses, tapirs, and kin.

        • Uranotherians

          The following three ungulate orders (Sirenia, Proboscidea, and Hyracoidea) are sometimes grouped together as the order Uranotheria, for they are more closely related to one another than to other ungulates.

          • Order Hyracoidea (hyraxes)

            4 species in 1 family.

          • Order Sirenia (manatees and dugongs)

            5 species in 2 families.

          • Order Proboscidea (elephants)

            3 species in 1 family.

        • Order Tubulidentata (aardvark)

          1 species (Orycteropus afer).

      • Order Carnivora (carnivores)

        Nearly 290 species in 15 families.

      • Order Lagomorpha (pikas and rabbits)

        92 species in 3 families.

      • Magnorder Xenarthra (edentates, or xenarthrans)

        31 species in 2 orders.

        • Order Cingulata (armadillos)

          20 species in 1 family.

        • Order Pilosa (anteaters and sloths)

          10 species in 4 families.

      • Order Scandentia (tree shrews)

        20 species in 2 families.

      • Order Macroscelidea (elephant shrews)

        15 species in 1 family.

      • Order Pholidota (pangolins)

        8 species in 1 family.