Nick Pharris <npharris@umich.edu> wrote;
Yuck. For God's sake, let's get some clade names that make sense without requiring knowledge of the entire history of mammalian
classification.
Alas, that ain't going to happen.
Just call them Lipotyphla, or even Insectivora.
Cetartiodactyla? Totally unnecessary. Cetacea is a subclade of Artiodactyla (or Paraxonia)--it's not even clear that artiodactyls as traditionally conceived share a special relationship exclusive of whales.
> That the name Scrotifera exists suggests that some synapomorphy> exists that fits in the molecular tree, but I don't know it.
Tim