Myrmecophagidae, Gray, 1825

Voss, Robert S. & Fleck, David W., 2017, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 2: Xenarthra, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, And Sirenia, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2017 (417), pp. 1-1 : 1-

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1206/00030090-417.1.1

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03E587EC-FF97-FF90-7777-FDDF83E6FB64

treatment provided by

Carolina

scientific name

Myrmecophagidae
status

 

Myrmecophagidae View in CoL

Three species of anteaters, the usual complement in intact Amazonian habitats, are found in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve: the pygmy anteater ( Cyclopes didactylus ), the giant anteater ( Myrmecophaga tridactyla ), and the tamandua ( Tamandua tetradactyla ). All are readily distinguished by obvious external characters ( Emmons, 1997), and their edentulous skulls are easily identified by nonoverlapping measurements and ratio variables (Wetzel, 1985a). Myrmecophaga and Tamandua are not currently known to be associated with any taxonomic problems, but molecular sequencing has revealed unexpectedly deep (Miocene) divergence within Cyclopes , which is currently thought to be monotypic. The genus Cyclopes is sometimes placed in its own family ( Cyclopedidae ; e.g., by Gardner, 2008), but the distinction seems phylogenetically pointless.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Pilosa

Family

Myrmecophagidae

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