Eulipotyphla
| Eulipotyphla Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Clockwise from upper left: a solenodon, hedgehog, mole and shrew | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Magnorder: | Boreoeutheria |
| Superorder: | Laurasiatheria |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla Waddell et al., 1999 |
| Families | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Eulipotyphla (/ˌjuːlɪpoʊˈtɪflə/, which means "truly fat and blind") is an order of mammals suggested by molecular methods of phylogenetic reconstruction, which includes the laurasiatherian members of the now-invalid polyphyletic order Lipotyphla, but not the afrotherian members (tenrecs, golden moles, and otter shrews, now in their own order Afrosoricida).
Eulipotyphla comprises the hedgehogs and gymnures (family Erinaceidae, formerly also the order Erinaceomorpha), solenodons (family Solenodontidae), the desmans, moles, and shrew-like moles (family Talpidae) and true shrews (family Soricidae). True shrews, talpids and solenodons were formerly grouped in Soricomorpha; however, Soricomorpha has been found to be paraphyletic, since erinaceids are the sister group of shrews.
A 2023 study suggested that the order began to diversify prior to the K-Pg extinction, based on molecular clock estimates.