Anteater
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Anteaters | |
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| Northern Tamandua (Tamandua mexicana) |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Superorder: | Xenarthra |
| Order: | Pilosa |
| Suborder: | Vermilingua Illiger, 1811 |
| Families | |
Anteaters are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua[1] commonly known for eating ants and termites.[2] Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa. The name "anteater" is also colloquially applied to the unrelated aardvark, numbat, echidna, and pangolin.
Species include the Giant Anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla, about 1.8 m (6 ft) long including the tail; the Silky Anteater Cyclopes didactylus, about 35 cm (14 in.) long; the Southern Tamandua or Collared Anteater Tamandua tetradactyla, about 1.2 m (4 ft) long; and the Northern Tamandua Tamandua mexicana of similar dimensions.
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[edit] Classification
Order Pilosa
- Suborder Folivora (sloths)
- Suborder Vermilingua (Anteaters)
- Family Cyclopedidae
- Genus Cyclopes
- Genus Palaeomyrmidon (fossil[verification needed])
- Family Myrmecophagidae
- Genus Myrmecophaga
- Genus Neotamandua (fossil[verification needed])
- Genus Tamandua
- Genus Protamandua (fossil[verification needed])
- Family Cyclopedidae
The Anteaters are more closely related to the armadillos than they are to any other group of mammals. There are three genera still living: the Giant Anteater, the Silky Anteater, and the Northern and Southern carnivore anteaters. There are also several extinct genera.
[edit] Evolution
Anteaters are one of the surviving families of mammals that occupied South America while it was geographically isolated from an invasion of animals from North America.
At one time, it was assumed that anteaters were related to aardvarks and pangolins because of their physical similarities to those animals, but it has since been determined that these similarities are not a sign of a common ancestor, but of convergent evolution. All have evolved powerful digging forearms and long tongues and toothless tube-like snouts in order to make a living by raiding termite mounds. This similarity is the reason aardvarks are also commonly called "anteaters"; the pangolin has been called the "scaly anteater"; and the word "antbear" is a common term for both the aardvark and the giant anteater.
[edit] Gallery
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vermilingua |
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Wikispecies has information related to: Vermilingua |
 Anteater Tamandua mexicana in Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica |
[edit] References
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