Carnassials are feature that allows distinguishing the Carnivoramorpha, Oxyaenodonta and Hyaenodonta from the other carnivorous placental mammals.[11] However, these mammals are distinguished between them self based on the position of the carnassial teeth and the number of molars. The carnassial teeth of the Carnivoramorpha are located in P4 and m1, in Oxyaenodonta are M1 and m2, and in Hyaenodonta and close relatives are M2 and m3. This appears to be a case of a possible evolutionary convergent adaptation toward similar diet.[11]
Comparison of carnassial teeth of a carnivoran (wolf), a hyaenodontid (Hyaenodon) and an oxyaenid (Oxyaena)
According to recent studies (reflected in the diagram below), the closest living relatives of Ferae are members of mirorder Euungulata (group of mammals which includes order Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla).[13][14]
An alternate phylogeny holds that the closest relatives to the Ferae are the Perissodactyla and Chiroptera (bats), not Artiodactyla.[15] Ferae together with Perissodactyla has been called Zooamata. Ferae, Perissodactyla, and Chiroptera together has been called Pegasoferae. Subsequent molecular studies have generally failed to support the proposal.[16][17][18][19][20]
Pangolins were long thought to be the closest relatives of aardvark and xenarthrans (armadillos, anteaters, and sloths), forming to the now obsolete order Edentata. Research based on immunodiffusion technique[21] and comparison of protein and DNA sequences[22][23][24] revealed the close relationships between pangolins and carnivorans, with whom they also share a few unusual derived morphological and anatomical traits, such as the ossified tentorium cerebelli and the fusion of the scaphoid and lunate bones in the wrist. The last common ancestor of extant Ferae is supposed to have diversified c. 79.47 million years ago.[1]
While there has been strong support in the inclusion of order Creodonta into Ferae, they were usually recovered as sister taxon to Carnivora.[9] The Halliday et al. (2015) phylogenetic analysis of hundreds of morphological characters of Paleocene placentals found instead that creodonts might be the sister group to Pholidotamorpha (pangolins and their stem-relatives).[25] However, recent studies have shown that Creodonta is an invalid polyphyletic taxon. Members of this group are part of clade Pan-Carnivora and sister taxa to Carnivoramorpha (carnivorans and their stem-relatives). They are split in two groups: order Oxyaenodonta on one side and order Hyaenodonta plus its stem-relatives (family Wyolestidae and genera Altacreodus, Simidectes and Tinerhodon) on the other.[26][27][28][29][30]
^Kalandadze, N. N. and S. A. Rautian (1992.) "Systema mlekopitayushchikh i istorygeskaya zoogeographei [The system of mammals and historical zoogeography]." Sbornik Trudov Zoologicheskogo Muzeya Moskovskogo Goschdarstvennoro Universiteta 29:44–152.
^Amrine-madsen, H.; Koepfli, K.P.; Wayne, R.K.; Springer, M.S. (2003). "A new phylogenetic marker, apolipoprotein B, provides compelling evidence for eutherian relationships". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 28 (2): 225–240. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00118-0. PMID12878460.
^ abMcKenna, M. C. (1975). "Toward a phylogenetic classification of the Mammalia". In Luckett, W. P.; Szalay, F. S. (eds.). Phylogeny of the Primates. New York: Plenum. pp. 21–46.
^Malcolm C. McKenna, Susan K. Bell: Classification of Mammals: Above the Species Level in Columbia University Press, New York (1997), 631 Seiten. Ferae
^Gaudin, Timothy J.; Gaubert, Philippe; Billet, Guillaume; Hautier, Lionel; Ferreira-Cardoso, Sérgio; Wible, John R. (1 January 2020), Challender, Daniel W. S.; Nash, Helen C.; Waterman, Carly (eds.), "Chapter 1 – Evolution and morphology", Pangolins, Biodiversity of World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes, Academic Press, pp. 5–23, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-815507-3.00001-0, ISBN978-0-12-815507-3, S2CID214085088, retrieved 26 February 2020
^Shoshani, Jeheskel; Goodman, Morris; Czelusniak, John; Braunitzer, Gerhard (1985). "A Phylogeny of Rodentia and Other Eutherian Orders: Parsimony Analysis Utilizing Amino Acid Sequences of Alpha and Beta Hemoglobin Chains". In Luckett, W. Patrick; Hartenberger, Jean-Louis (eds.). Evolutionary Relationships among Rodents. NATO Advanced Science Institutes (ASI) Series. Boston, MA: Springer US. pp. 191–210. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0539-0_7. ISBN978-1-4899-0539-0.
^Solé, Floréal; Ladevèze, Sandrine (2017). "Evolution of the hypercarnivorous dentition in mammals (Metatheria,Eutheria) and its bearing on the development of tribosphenic molars". Evolution & Development. 19 (2): 56–68. doi:10.1111/ede.12219. PMID28181377. S2CID46774007.
^Smith, De Bast (2013). "Reassessment of the Small 'Arctocyonid' Prolatidens waudruae from the Early Paleocene of Belgium, and Its Phylogenetic Relationships with Ungulate-Like Mammals". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (4): 964–976. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.747531. S2CID86402154.