Orycteropus afer, (PALLAS, 1766)

Lehmann, Thomas, 2009, Phylogeny and systematics of the Orycteropodidae (Mammalia, Tubulidentata), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 155 (3), pp. 649-702 : 684

SPECIES ORYCTEROPUS AFER ( PALLAS, 1766)

Emended diagnosis: Same as for the genus. Orycteropus afer also shares the following unique characters with O. crassidens : the presence of an incisura mandibulae on the mandible, and the articulation axis of the semilunar notch on the ulna perpendicular to the diaphysis. Moreover, the extant aardvark can be distinguished from other Orycteropodidae by the deep lingual groove on the upper molars (like O. crassidens , aff. A. pottieri and aff. A. seni ), and by the long and broad tibial tuberosity on the proximal epiphysis of the tibia (as in A. mauritanicus ).

Holotype: Pallas (1766: 64) made his description of ‘ Myrmecophaga afra ’ (i.e. O. afer ) on a foetus, which could not be localized.

Type locality: Cape of Good Hope ( South Africa).

Main occurrences: Aardvarks are currently distributed all over Africa, south of the Sahara desert. They are absent from the desert, but not from the forest (see Pagès, 1970). To the best of my knowledge, fossil specimens identified as O. afer have been found from: Tanezrouft ( Algeria); Lukenya Hill ( Kenya); Matupi I and II ( République démocratique du Congo); Elands bay cave, Equus Cave, Glen Elliott, Kasteelberg, Riversmead, Saldanha Bay, and Tienfontein 2 ( South Africa) (see Romer, 1938; Klein, 1979, 1986; Van Neer, 1984; Klein et al., 1991, 2007; Marean, 1992; Grine & Klein, 1993).

Age: From the Palaeolithic (from 3 Mya to 12 Kya) to recent times.

Discussion: The aardvark (‘earth-pig’ in Dutch) is the last living member of the order Tubulidentata . Historically, besides O. afer , seven extant species had been described until Rothschild (1907) distinguished them as subspecies (or ‘races’) of the sole species O. afer . There are currently 18 subspecies of aardvark, but their validity is doubtful: Orycteropus afer adametzi Grote, 1921 , Orycteropus afer aethiopicus Sundevall, 1843 , Orycteropus afer afer ( Pallas, 1766) , Orycteropus afer albicaudus Rothschild, 1907 , Orycteropus afer angolensis Zukowsky & Haltenorth, 1957 , Orycteropus afer erikssoni Lönnberg, 1906 , Orycteropus afer faradjius Hatt, 1932 , Orycteropus afer haussanus Matschie, 1900 , Orycteropus afer kordofanicus Rothschild, 1927 , Orycteropus afer lademanni Grote, 1921 , Orycteropus afer leptodon Hirst, 1906 , Orycteropus afer matschiei Grote, 1921 , Orycteropus afer observandus Grote, 1921 , Orycteropus afer ruvanensis Grote, 1921 , Orycteropus afer senegalensis Lesson, 1840 , Orycteropus afer somalicus Lydekker, 1908 , Orycteropus afer wardi Lydekker, 1908 , Orycteropus afer wertheri Matschie, 1898 .

As discussed previously, and following Lehmann (2006b), the specimens from Langebaanweg ( South Africa) are cautiously referred to O. cf. afer in this study (see below). Therefore, the oldest ascertained specimens of O. afer so far are the ones discovered in Tanezrouft ( Algeria). Unfortunately, the age of that material (Palaeolithic, from 3 Mya to 12 Kya.) cannot be specified.