Glires

Glires (Latin glīrēs, dormice) is a clade (sometimes ranked as a grandorder) consisting of rodents and lagomorphs (rabbits, hares, and pikas). The hypothesis that these form a monophyletic group has been long debated based on morphological evidence, although recent morphological studies strongly supports the monophyly of Glires (Meng and Wyss, 2001; Meng et al., 2003). In particular, the discovery of new fossil material of basal members of Glires, particularly the genera Mimotona, Gomphos, Heomys, Matutinia, Rhombomylus, and Sinomylus, has helped to bridge the gap between more typical rodents and lagomorphs (Meng et al., 2003; Asher et al., 2005). Data based on nuclear DNA support Glires as a sister of Euarchonta to form Euarchontoglires (Murphy et al. and Madsen et al. 2001), but some genetic data from both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA have been less supportive (Arnason et al. 2002). A study investigating retrotransposon presence/absence data unambiguously supports the Glires hypothesis (Kriegs et al. 2007). Recent studies place Scandentia as sister of the Glires, invalidating Euarchonta.