Widanelfarasia

Widanelfarasia Temporal range: 37.2 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Late Eocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Afrosoricida
Genus:	Widanelfarasia Seiffert & Simons, 2000
Type species
Widanelfarasia bowni Seiffert & Simons, 2000
Species
W. bowni W. rasmusseni

Widanelfarasia is an extinct genus of placental mammals known from the Late Eocene Jebel Qatrani Formation of Egypt. Two species are known: W. bowni and the smaller W. rasmusseni. Described in 2000 by E. R. Seiffert and Elwyn L. Simons, Widanelfarasia was initially classified as uncertain position (incertae sedis) within placentals,^[1] but was later placed within the afrosoricidan suborder Tenrecomorpha (tenrecs and otter shrews).^[2][3] The genus name derives from Widan el-Faras (Arabic for "Ears of the Mare"), two prominent hills in the area where the fossils were recovered.^[1]

References

1. Seiffert, Erik R.; Simons, Elwyn L. (2000). "Widanelfarasia, a diminutive placental from the late Eocene of Egypt". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97 (6): 2646–2651. doi:10.1073/pnas.040549797. JSTOR 122217. PMC 15983. PMID 10694573.
2. Seiffert, Erik R.; Simons, Elwyn L.; Ryan, Timothy M.; Bown, Thomas M.; Attia, Yousry (2007). "New remains of Eocene and Oligocene Afrosoricida (Afrotheria) from Egypt, with implications for the origin(s) of afrosoricid zalambdodonty". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (4): 963–972. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[963:NROEAO]2.0.CO;2.
3. Seiffert, Erik R (2007). "A new estimate of afrotherian phylogeny based on simultaneous analysis of genomic, morphological, and fossil evidence". BMC Evolutionary Biology 7 (1): 224. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-224. PMC 2248600. PMID 17999766.