Archonta
The Archonta are a group of mammals, considered a superorder in some classifications, which consists of these orders:
- Primates
- Plesiadapiformes
- Scandentia
- Dermoptera
While bats were traditionally included in the Archonta, recent genetic analysis has suggested that bats actually belong in Laurasiatheria. A revised category, Euarchonta, excluding bats, has been proposed.
This taxon may have arisen in the Early Cretaceous, so other models may explain mammalian evolution besides an explosive radiation from a single surviving lineage following the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction of the Mesozoic megafauna, such as a series of prior radiations related to the breakup of Gondwana and Laurasia allowing for more survivors.
