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Tenrecidae

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Description

A tenrec is any species of mammal within the afrotherian family Tenrecidae endemic to Madagascar. Tenrecs are widely diverse; as a result of convergent evolution some resemble hedgehogs, shrews, opossums or mice. They occupy aquatic, arboreal, terrestrial and fossorial environments. Some of these species, including the greater hedgehog tenrec, can be found in the Madagascar dry deciduous forests. However, the speciation rate in this group has been higher in humid forests.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenrecidae, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	9613	https://www.gbif.org/species/9613
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	40531	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=40531

Rank

family

Taxonomy (GBIF)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Afrosoricida : Tenrecidae

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Tenrecidae

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Synapsida	Osborn 1903
-	Therapsida
infraorder	Cynodontia
-	Epicynodontia	Hopson and Kitching 2001
infraorder	Eucynodontia	Kemp 1982
-	Probainognathia	Hopson 1990
-	Mammaliamorpha	Rowe 1988
-	Mammaliaformes	Rowe 1988
class	Mammalia	Linnaeus 1758
subclass	Tribosphenida
infraclass	Eutheria
-	Placentalia	Owen 1837
-	Afrotheria	Stanhope et al. 1998
-	Afroinsectivora	Waddell et al. 2001
superfamily	Tenrecoidea	McDowell 1958
family	Tenrecidae	Gray 1821

Common Name

tenrec

Scientific Name

Tenrecidae

Name Published In

London Med. Repos. Rec. vol.15 p.301

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Tenrecidae	family	belongs to Plantigradae	stated without evidence	Gray, 1821
Tenrecidae	family	belongs to Tenrecoidea	stated without evidence	Van Valen, 1967
Tenrecidae	family	belongs to Zalambdodonta	implied	Carroll, 1988
Tenrecidae	family	belongs to Insectivora	implied	Nowak, 1991
Tenrecidae	family	belongs to Afrotheria	stated without evidence	Madsen et al., 2001
Tenrecidae	family	belongs to Afrosoricida	stated with evidence	Douady et al., 2002
Tenrecidae	family	belongs to Tenrecoidea	stated with evidence	Asher et al., 2005
Tenrecidae	family	belongs to Tenrecoidea	stated without evidence	Asher and Helgen, 2010

Status (PBDB)

extant

Taxon Size (PBDB)

Extant Size (PBDB)

18 (67%)

First Recorded Appearance

41.3 - 38.0 Ma
Eocene

Environment

terrestrial (based on Eutheria)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Osteichthyes)

Diet

insectivore, carnivore

Ecospace Comments

life habit and diet based on Nowak 1999

Taphonomy

phosphatic (based on Vertebrata)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

J. E. Gray. 1821. On the natural arrangement of vertebrose animals. The London Medical Repository Monthly Journal and Review 15:296-310

Common Name(s)

Tenrecs, Tenrec

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenrecidae

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Common Name(s)	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Oryzorictinae subfamily	listed (PBDB)				0 Ma Extant
Potamogalinae subfamily	listed (PBDB)		1	23.0 Ma Miocene	0 Ma Extant
Tenrecinae subfamily	listed (PBDB)				0 Ma Extant
Arenagale ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	41.3 Ma Eocene	41.3 Ma Eocene
Echinops genus	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Echinops genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec	1	0.01 Ma Pleistocene	0 Ma Extant
Erythrozootes ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Geogale genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Large-eared Tenrec	2	0.01 Ma Pleistocene	0 Ma Extant
Hemicentetes genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)				0 Ma Extant
Limnogale genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)				0 Ma Extant
Microgale genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Shrew Tenrec	10	0.01 Ma Pleistocene	0 Ma Extant
Micropotamogale genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)				0 Ma Extant
Ndamathaia ✝ genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Oryzorictes genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)				0 Ma Extant
Butleriella ✝ genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Potamogale genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)				0 Ma Extant
Protenrec ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	23.0 Ma Miocene	23.0 Ma Miocene
Setifer genus	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Setifer genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Greater Hedgehog Tenrec	3	0.01 Ma Pleistocene	0 Ma Extant
Sperrgale ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		2	41.3 Ma Eocene	41.3 Ma Eocene
Tenrec genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Tail-less Tenrec	5	0.01 Ma Pleistocene	0 Ma Extant

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1821	Tenrecidae Gray p. 301
1967	Tenrecidae Van Valen
1988	Tenrecidae Carroll
1991	Tenrecidae Nowak
2001	Tenrecidae Madsen et al. p. 610
2002	Tenrecidae Douady et al. p. 204
2005	Tenrecidae Asher et al. p. 919
2007	Tenrecidae Seiffert
2010	Tenrecidae Asher and Helgen p. 3 figs. Figure 1

References

Gray J. E. On the natural arrangement of vertebrose animals, The London Medical Repository Monthly Journal and Review 15, 296-310

Van Valen L. (1967) New Paleocene insectivores and insectivore classification, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 135 5, 217-284

Carroll R. L. (1988) , Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1-698

Nowak R. M. (1991) Walker's Mammals of the World, Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Press (edited volume) II

Asher R. J., Emry R. J., et al (2005) New material of Centetodon (Mammalia, Lipotyphla) and the importance of (missing) DNA sequences in systematic paleontology, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25 4, 911-923

Seiffert E. R. (2007) A new estimate of afrotherian phylogeny based on simultaneous analysis of genomic, morphological, and fossil evidence, BMC Evolutionary Biology 7, 224 doi:oi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-224

Asher R. J., Helgen K. M. (2010) Nomenclature and placental mammal phylogeny, BMC Evolutionary BIology 10 102, 1-9

Benton, M.J. (ed). (1993). The Fossil Record 2. Chapman & Hall, London, 845 pp. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Parker, S.P. (ed). (1982). Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms. McGraw-Hill, New York. 2 volumes. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds., 2005: null. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 3rd ed., vols. 1 & 2. 2142. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)

Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds., 1992: null. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 2nd ed., 3rd printing. xviii + 1207. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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