Vorstman's guide
to the
mammals
of Europe

The tree works down layer by layer: from the main branches of the mammal tree through ever smaller clades to orders, families and species. Every clade has a name — some familiar, some coined only recently. Where the genetic support is weak, it says so.

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• Mammals Mammalia

  336 species

  • Marsupials Marsupialia

    Mammals that give birth to a minute young which grows on at the teat, usually in a pouch. Not native to Europe: the single species in this guide was introduced and has held on. 1 species

    • Diprotodonts Diprotodontia 1 species
      Kangaroos and wallabies Macropodidae 1

  • Placental mammals Placentalia

    Mammals whose young are nourished in the womb by a placenta and are born well developed. Every European mammal belongs here. 335 species

    • The southern branch Atlantogenata

      The branch left behind when Africa and South America broke away from the northern continents. In Europe it reaches only the southern fringe. 2 species

      • Afrotherians Afrotheria

        2 species

        • Sengis Macroscelidea 1 species
          Sengis Macroscelididae 1
        • Hyraxes Hyracoidea 1 species
          Hyraxes Procaviidae 1

    • The northern branch Boreoeutheria

      Almost the whole European mammal fauna comes from this single branch. 333 species

      • Primates and rodents Euarchontoglires

        145 species

        • Primates and relatives Euarchonta

          1 species

          • Primates Primates 1 species
            Old World monkeys Cercopithecidae 1

        • Rodents and lagomorphs Glires

          Two orders with ever-growing rootless incisors and a toothless gap behind them; together almost half of all European mammal species. 144 species

          • Lagomorphs Lagomorpha 10 species
            Hares and rabbits Leporidae 10
          • Rodents Rodentia 134 species
            Gundis Ctenodactylidae 1Old World porcupines Hystricidae 2Dormice Gliridae 6Squirrels and marmots Sciuridae 21Beavers Castoridae 2Jerboas Dipodidae 4Birch mice Sminthidae 6Voles and hamsters Cricetidae 40Mice and rats Muridae 34Blind mole-rats Spalacidae 16Spiny rats and coypu Echimyidae 1Cavies and maras Caviidae 1

      • Insectivores, bats, carnivores and ungulates Laurasiatheria

        188 species

        • Hedgehogs, shrews and moles Eulipotyphla 41 species
          Hedgehogs Erinaceidae 7Shrews Soricidae 25Moles and desmans Talpidae 9

        • Bats, carnivores and ungulates Scrotifera

          147 species

          • Bats Chiroptera 57 species
            Sheath-tailed bats Emballonuridae 1Bent-winged bats Miniopteridae 3Free-tailed bats Molossidae 1Vesper bats Vespertilionidae 42Fruit bats Pteropodidae 1Old World leaf-nosed bats Hipposideridae 1Horseshoe bats Rhinolophidae 6Mouse-tailed bats Rhinopomatidae 2

          • Carnivores and ungulates Fereuungulata

            A branch put together by genetics that the eye would never guess: the wolf is closer to the deer than to the hedgehog. 90 species

            • Carnivorans Ferae

              46 species

              • Carnivores Carnivora 46 species
                Mustelids Mustelidae 13Bears Ursidae 2Dogs, wolves and foxes Canidae 9Cats Felidae 7Mongooses Herpestidae 2Hyaenas Hyaenidae 1Civets and genets Viverridae 1Raccoons and coatis Procyonidae 2True seals Phocidae 8Walrus Odobenidae 1

            • True ungulates Euungulata

              44 species

              • Odd-toed ungulates Perissodactyla 1 species
                Horses and asses Equidae 1
              • Even-toed ungulates Artiodactyla 43 species
                Rorquals Balaenopteridae 3Oceanic dolphins Delphinidae 7Porpoises Phocoenidae 1Sperm whales Physeteridae 1Bovids Bovidae 19Deer Cervidae 11Pigs Suidae 1

Source of the arrangement: The arrangement and sequence of orders, families, genera and species follow the Mammal Diversity Database v2.5 (ASM, 28 July 2026); the clades above them follow the accepted phylogeny of the placental mammals. Mammal Diversity Database v2.5 (ASM) · Foley et al. 2023, Science 380, eabl8189 (Zoonomia)

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