The order

Order (biology)

In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...

 Afrosoricida (a Latin-Greek compound name which means "looking like African shrews") contains the golden mole

Golden mole

Golden moles are small, insectivorous burrowing mammals native to southern Africa. They form the family Chrysochloridae, and are taxonomically distinct from the true moles which they resemble due to convergence...

s of southern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and the tenrecs of Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 and Africa, two families of small mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s that have traditionally been considered to be a part of the order Insectivora

Insectivora

The order Insectivora is a now-abandoned biological grouping within the class of mammals...

.

Some biologists use Tenrecomorpha as the name for the tenrec-golden mole clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

, but prevailing evidence suggests Afrosoricida is more appropriate and Tenrecomorpha is used here as the name of the tenrec suborder.

Traditionally, these two families were grouped with the hedgehog

Hedgehog

A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand . There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas...

s, shrew

Shrew

A shrew or shrew mouse is a small molelike mammal classified in the order Soricomorpha. True shrews are also not to be confused with West Indies shrews, treeshrews, otter shrews, or elephant shrews, which belong to different families or orders.Although its external appearance is generally that of...

s and mole

Mole (animal)

Moles are small cylindrical mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have velvety fur; tiny or invisible ears and eyes; and short, powerful limbs with large paws oriented for digging. The term is especially and most properly used for the true moles, those of the Talpidae family in the...

s in the Lipotyphla. However, there have always been minority opinions suggesting that Tenrecomorpha, or at least the golden moles, are not true lipotyphlans. These opinions are now supported by many genetic studies suggesting an association between Tenrecomorpha and various other African mammals in a proposed superorder known as Afrotheria

Afrotheria

Afrotheria is a clade of mammals, the living members of which belong to groups from Africa or of African origin: golden moles, sengis , tenrecs, aardvarks, hyraxes, elephants and sea cows. The common ancestry of these animals was not recognized until the late 1990s...

; however there is no strong morphological evidence to link the Afrosoricida together with other Afrotherians. The Afrosoricida are sometimes considered part of the Afroinsectiphilia

Afroinsectiphilia

The Afroinsectiphilia is a clade that has been proposed based on the results of recent molecular studies. Many of its orders were once regarded as part of the order Insectivora, but Insectivora is now considered to be polyphyletic and is, as a result, possibly obsolete...

, a clade within the Afrotheria.

• INFRACLASS EUTHERIA
  Eutheria
  Eutheria is a group of mammals consisting of placental mammals plus all extinct mammals that are more closely related to living placentals than to living marsupials . They are distinguished from noneutherians by various features of the feet, ankles, jaws and teeth...
  
  : placental mammals
  • Superorder Afrotheria
    Afrotheria
    Afrotheria is a clade of mammals, the living members of which belong to groups from Africa or of African origin: golden moles, sengis , tenrecs, aardvarks, hyraxes, elephants and sea cows. The common ancestry of these animals was not recognized until the late 1990s...
    
    
    • Clade
      Clade
      A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
      
       Afroinsectiphilia
      Afroinsectiphilia
      The Afroinsectiphilia is a clade that has been proposed based on the results of recent molecular studies. Many of its orders were once regarded as part of the order Insectivora, but Insectivora is now considered to be polyphyletic and is, as a result, possibly obsolete...
      
      
      • Order Afrosoricida
        • Suborder Tenrecomorpha
          • Family Tenrecidae
            Tenrecidae
            Tenrecidae is a family of mammals found on Madagascar and parts of Africa. Tenrecs are widely diverse, resembling hedgehogs, shrews, opossums, mice and even otters, as a result of convergent evolution. They occupy aquatic, arboreal, terrestrial and fossorial environments...
            
            : tenrecs and otter shrews; 30 species in 10 genera
        • Suborder Chrysochloridea
          • Family Chrysochloridae: golden moles; about 21 species in 9 genera
      • Order Macroscelidea: elephant shrews
      • Order Tubulidentata: Aardvark
    • Clade Paenungulata
      Paenungulata
      Paenungulata is a taxon that groups some remarkable mammals, including three orders that are extant: Proboscidea , Sirenia , and Hyracoidea . At least two more orders are known only as fossils, namely Embrithopoda and Desmostylia...
      
      
      • Order Hyracoidea: hyraxes
      • Order Proboscidea
        Proboscidea
        Proboscidea is a taxonomic order containing one living family, Elephantidae, and several extinct families. This order was first described by J. Illiger in 1881 and encompasses the trunked mammals...
        
        : elephants
      • Order Sirenia
        Sirenia
        Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. Four species are living, in two families and genera. These are the dugong and manatees...
        
        : manatees and dugongs
  • (Other superorders, not listed here)