The order Afrosoricida (a Latin-Greek compound name which means "looking like African shrews") contains the golden moles of southern Africa and the tenrecs of Madagascar and Africa. These two families of small mammals have traditionally been considered to be a part of the order Insectivora, a wastebasket taxon, and were later included in Lipotyphla after Insectivora was abandoned, before Lipotyphla was also found to be polyphyletic.

The order Afrosoricida (a Latin-Greek compound name which means "looking like African shrews") contains the golden moles of southern Africa and the tenrecs of Madagascar and Africa. These two families of small mammals have traditionally been considered to be a part of the order Insectivora, a wastebasket taxon, and were later included in Lipotyphla after Insectivora was abandoned, before Lipotyphla was also found to be polyphyletic.