An order of mammals described in 1994 by R. D. E. MacPhee, based on the enigmatic genus (see enigmatic taxon) Plesiorycteropus, known from sub-Recent fossil material from Madagascar. The order is distinguished by having large, perforating, transarcual canals in the neural arches of the lumbar, posterior thoracic, and anterior sacral vertebrae (see vertebra); a posteriomedial process on the astragalus, with a ventral groove for flexor tendons; and large ischial expansions (see ischium). Plesiorycteropus was formerly assigned to the order Tubulidentata. It was a ground-dwelling insectivore, sometimes called the Malagasy aardvark, although it was not related to the aardvark.