Class Mammalia

Mammals are warm-blooded animals who suckle their young.  They can be further classified into sub-classes based on their reproduction as shown below.  There are changes and differences in the orders some families are listed as belonging depending on the source. I have chosen the taxonomy from iNaturalist as that seems to be the most up-to-date but have excluded superorders.  The orders seem to mostly agree with those in the CoL and BOLD listings.  The orders listed in the NBN Atlas appear to be an older system. I have listed the orders and families alphabetically.   I will link to the orders where I have examples and have put a * against the family.

Subclass Prototheria — Prototherians

Most of the animals in this group are extinct but there is one order with two families containing living species

  • Order Monotremata (egg-laying mammals)

Subclass Theiria — Therians

These are animals that give live births and includes both the placental and marsupial animals.

Infraclass Marsupialia — Marsupials

  • Order Dasyuromorphia — Carnivorous Marsupials
  • Order Didelphimorphia — Opossums
  • Order Diprotodontia — Kangaroos, Possums, Wombats, and Allies
  • Order Microbiotheria — Microbiotheres
  • Order Notoryctemorphia — Marsupial Moles
  • Order Paucituberculata — Shrew Opossums
  • Order Peramelemorphia — Bandicoots and Bilbies

Infraclass Placentalia — Placental Mammals

  1. Order Afrosoricida — Golden Moles and Tenrecs
  2. Order Artiodactyla — Even-toed Ungulates and Cetaceans
  3. Order Carnivora — Carnivorans (A – long snouts and unretractable claws & B – retractable claws)
  4. Order Cetacea — Cetaceans (A – baleen whales & B toothed whales)
  5. Order Chiroptera — Bats
  6. Order Cingulata — Armadillos 
  7. Order Dermoptera — Colugos & flying lemurs
  8. Order Eulipotyphla — Shrews, Moles, Hedgehogs, and Allies
  9. Order Hyracoidea — Hyraxes
  10. Order Lagomorpha — Lagomorphs (rabbits, hares, pikas)
  11. Order Macroscelidea — Sengis (elephant-shrews)
  12. Order Perissodactyla — Odd-toed Ungulates
  13. Order Pholidota — Pangolins
  14. Order Pilosa — Sloths and Anteaters
  15. Order Primates — Primates
  16. Order Proboscidea — Proboscideans (elephants)
  17. Order Rodentia — Rodents (A: scaly-tailed squirrels and spring hares; B: beavers, gophers, kangaroo rats, pocket mice, and relatives; C: hystricognath rodents; D: mice, rats, gerbils, jerboas, and relatives; E: squirrels, dormice, and relatives)
  18. Order Scandentia — Treeshrews
  19. Order Sirenia — Sirenians (manatees, dugongs and sea cows)
  20. Order Tubulidentata — Aardvarks