Archonta

Archonta is a historical grouping in mammalian classification that was used to unite the living orders Primates (including humans, apes, and monkeys), Dermoptera (colugos), and Scandentia (treeshrews). The term was adopted in some 19th- and early 20th-century schemes to reflect perceived close relationships among these lineages based on shared anatomical traits, such as certain skull and dental features.

In various older treatments, extinct members such as Plesiadapiformes were sometimes included in Archonta, but this broader usage has not been supported by later data. With the rise of molecular phylogenetics, the status of Archonta as a natural, monophyletic group became questionable, and its use declined.

Modern mammalian systematics place Primates, Dermoptera, and Scandentia together in the clade Euarchonta, which is within the larger superclade Euarchontoglires. Within Euarchonta, these three orders are considered a closely related living lineage, distinct from Glires (Rodentia and Lagomorpha). As a result, the term Archonta is largely regarded as obsolete in contemporary taxonomy, with Euarchonta preferred for the living groups and their closest extinct relatives.

In summary, Archonta refers to a historical attempt to group primates, colugos, and treeshrews, but it is no longer used as a formal taxonomic unit in current mammalian phylogeny.

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