Scrotifera

Scrotifera
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous to present
From top to right: tiger, Indian pangolin, red deer, white rhino and Lyle's flying fox. Representing the living orders: Carnivora, Pholidota, Artiodactyla, Perissodactyla and Chiroptera, comprising Scrotifera.
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
Clade: Scrotifera
Waddell et al., 1999
Subgroups
Synonyms
  • Variamana (Springer, 2005)

Scrotifera ("scrotum bearers") is a clade of placental mammals that groups together grandorder Ferungulata, Chiroptera (bats), other extinct members and their common ancestors. The clade Scrotifera is a sister group to the order Eulipotyphla (true insectivores) based on evidence from molecular phylogenetics, and together they make superorder Laurasiatheria. The last common ancestor of Scrotifera is supposed to have diversified ca. 73.1 to 85.5 million years ago.