A recent study by Zhang et al . places Chiroptera as a sister taxon to the clade Perissodactyla ( which includes horses and other odd-toed ungulates ).
22.
However, the first phylogenomic analysis of bats shows that they are not sisters to Perissodactyla, instead they are sisters to a larger group that includes ungulates and carnivores.
23.
The alignment of hyopsodontids and phenacodontids to Perissodactyla in general suggests an older Laurasian origin and distribution for the clade, dispersed across the northern continents already in the early Paleocene.
24.
However, a posterior study shows that, while anthracobunids are definite perissodactyls, desmostylians share the same amount of characters necessary for either Paenungulata or Perissodactyla, making their former assessment as afrotheres a possibility.
25.
The studies conflicted in terms of the exact placement of Chiroptera, however, with it being linked most closely to groups such as Eulipotyphla, Ferae or with Perissodactyla and Ferae in the Pegasoferae proposal.
26.
Molecular genetic findings suggest the formation of a sister taxon of the Perissodactyla, Cetartiodactyla, which includes the cloven ( Artiodactyla ) and whales ( Cetacea ); together, the two groups form the Euungulata.
27.
"' Ferungulata "'is a traditional clade within the extant Carnivora, Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla as well as Tubulidentata and a superorder, Paenungulata, plus a number of orders known only as fossils.
28.
The presence of the sister group of perissodactyls in western India near or before the time of its collision with Asia, suggests that Perissodactyla may have originated on the Indian Plate during its final drift toward Asia.
29.
"' Tethytheria "'is a clade of mammals that includes the sirenians and proboscideans, as well as the extinct orders Desmostylia and Embrithopoda ( desmostylians, however, have been placed in Perissodactyla by a 2014 cladistic analysis ).
30.
According to recent studies ( reflected in the diagram below ), the closest relatives of Ferae are Perissodactyla ( horses, tapirs, and rhinos ) and Cetartiodactyla ( which combines Artiodactyla camels, pigs, ruminants and hippos with Cetacea whales and dolphins ).
