Archonta

The Archonta are a now-abandoned group of mammals, considered a superorder in some classifications, which consists of these orders:

• Primates
• Plesiadapiformes (extinct primate-like archontans)
• Scandentia (treeshrews)
• Dermoptera (colugos)

Archonta
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Superorder:	Tokotheria
Grandorder:	Archonta
Subgroups
Euarchonta Chiroptera

While bats were traditionally included in the Archonta, genetic analysis has suggested that bats actually belong in Laurasiatheria.^[1] A revised category excluding bats, Euarchonta, has been proposed.^[2][3]

This taxon may have arisen in the Early Cretaceous (more than 100 million years ago), so other models may explain mammalian evolution besides an explosive radiation from a single surviving lineage following the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction of the Mesozoic megafauna,^[4] such as a series of prior radiations related to the breakup of Gondwana and Laurasia allowing for more survivors.^[5][6]