afrotherian
afrotherian adjective: belonging or pertaining to the superorder Afrotheria, which includes the elephants, aardvarks, golden moles, tenrecs, etc.
Adjective
afrotherian (comparative more afrotherian, superlative most afrotherian)
- Belonging or pertaining to the superorder Afrotheria, which includes the elephants, aardvarks, golden moles, tenrecs, etc.
- Although the monophyly of Afrotheria is well supported by recent molecular studies, the interrelationships within afrotherian mammals remain unclarified.2003, Yumie Murata et al., “Afrotherian Phylogeny as Inferred from Complete Mitochondrial Genomes”, in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, volume 28, page 253
- Just as molecular evidence from living mammals would predict, the African fossil record documents the presence of several afrotherian groups by early or middle Eocene time.2006, Chris Beard, The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey, University of California Press, page 251
Noun
afrotherian (plural afrotherians)
- A placental that belongs to the superorder Afrotheria, such as an elephant, aardvark, golden mole, tenrec, etc.
- As their name implies, afrotherians putatively represent a radiation of placentals rooted in the African continent and nearby island of Madagascar.2001, Michael J. Novacek, “Mammalian Phylogeny: Genes and Supertrees”, in Current Biology, volume 11, page R573
- Alternatively, the afrotherians may have originated in Europe, and an elephant-shrew like creature crossed into Africa and gave rise to the great diversity of afrotherians—from elephants to golden moles—that inhabit the continent today.2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 59
- Synonyms:
- afrothere
Synonyms of afrotherian
Forms of afrotherian
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more afrotherian |
| superlative | most afrotherian |
| Noun | |
| plural | afrotherians |
Origin of afrotherian
From Afrotheria, from Afro- + Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon, “beast”), + -n.
Questions about afrotherian
- What does afrotherian mean?
- Afrotherian means belonging or pertaining to the superorder Afrotheria, which includes the elephants, aardvarks, golden moles, tenrecs, etc.
- What part of speech is afrotherian?
- Afrotherian can be an adjective or a noun.
Words near afrotherian in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: afrotherian (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “afrotherian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/afrotherian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.