PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Myrmecophagidae

Mammalia - Myrmecophagidae

Taxonomy

Myrmecophagidae is a family. It is extant. Its type is Myrmecophaga.

It was assigned to Bruta by Bonaparte (1850); to Pilosa by Flower (1883); to Vermilinguia by Ameghino (1889); to Edentata by Cope (1889) and Flower and Lydekker (1891); to Xenarthra by Cope (1889) and Gadow (1898); to Xenarthra by Nowak (1991); to Vermilingua by Wilson and Reeder (2005); and to Vermilingua by Carroll (1988), Gaudin and Branham (1998) and McDonald et al. (2008).

Subtaxa

Myrmecophaga (syn. Falcifer, Nunezia) (type genus), Myrmecophagina, Myrmecophaginae, Palaeomyrmedon

Synonyms

Anathitidae was named by Ameghino (1894).

It was synonymized subjectively with Myrmecophagidae by McDonald et al. (2008).
Adiastaltidae was named by Ameghino (1894).

It was synonymized subjectively with Myrmecophagidae by McDonald et al. (2008).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1850	Myrmecophagidae Bonaparte p. 1
1883	Myrmecophagidae Flower p. 184
1889	Myrmecophagidae Ameghino p. 658
1889	Myrmecophagidae Cope p. 658
1891	Myrmecophagidae Flower and Lydekker p. 89
1894	Adiastaltidae Ameghino
1894	Anathitidae Ameghino
1898	Myrmecophagidae Gadow p. 41
1988	Myrmecophagidae Carroll
1991	Myrmecophagidae Nowak
1998	Myrmecophagidae Gaudin and Branham
2005	Myrmecophagidae Wilson and Reeder
2008	Myrmecophagidae McDonald et al.

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()

Rank	Name	Author
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Theriamorpha	(Rowe 1993)
—	Theriiformes	()
—	Trechnotheria
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Americatheria
—	Xenarthra	()
infraorder	Pilosa	Flower 1883
superfamily	Vermilingua
family	Myrmecophagidae
family	Myrmecophagidae

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Fm. Myrmecophagidae

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G. Myrmecophaga Linnaeus 1758 [giant anteater]

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Myrmecophaga tridactyla Linnaeus 1758 [giant anteater]

Invalid names: Myrmecophaga centralis Lyon 1906 [synonym], Myrmecophaga jubata Linnaeus 1766 [synonym]

Invalid names: Falcifer Rehn 1900 [synonym], Nunezia Kraglievich 1934 [synonym]

Tr. Myrmecophagina Gray 1825

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G. Cyclothurus Gray 1825

Subfm. Myrmecophaginae

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G. †Neotamandua Rovereto 1914

†Neotamandua australis Scillato-Yané and Carlini 1998

†Neotamandua borealis Hirschfeld 1976

†Neotamandua conspicua Rovereto 1914

†Neotamandua greslebini Kraglievich 1940

†Neotamandua magna Ameghino 1919

G. †Protamandua Ameghino 1904

†Protamandua rothi Ameghino 1904

Invalid names: Promyrmephagus dolichoarthrus Ameghino 1904 [synonym], Promyrmephagus euryarthrus Ameghino 1904 [synonym]

Invalid names: Promyrmephagus Ameghino 1904 [synonym]

G. Tamandua Gray 1825 [tamandua]

Tamandua mexicana Saussure 1860 [Northern tamandua]

Tamandua tetradactyla Linnaeus 1758 [southern tamandua]

Tamandua tetradactyla punensis Allen 1916

G. †Palaeomyrmedon Roverto 1914

Invalid names: Adiastaltidae Ameghino 1894 [synonym], Anathitidae Ameghino 1894 [synonym]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

terrestrialsubc

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Life habit:

ground dwellingf

Diet:

insectivoref

Reproduction:

viviparoussubc

Comments:

life habit and diet based on Nowak 1999f

Created:

2005-06-08 10:11:09

Modified:

2005-08-22 18:30:53

Source: f = family, subc = subclass, c = class, subp = subphylum

References: Carroll 1988, Ji et al. 2002, Hendy et al. 2009, Nowak 1991, Lillegraven 1979

Age range

Maximum range based only on fossils: base of the Santacrucian to the top of the Holocene or 17.50000 to 0.00000 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 16.3 Ma

Collections (19 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Santacrucian	17.5 - 16.3	Argentina (Santa Cruz)	Myrmecophagidae indet., Protamandua rothi, Promyrmephagus euryarthrus, Promyrmephagus dolichoarthrus (27313) Protamandua rothi (176581 176584 176585)
Colloncuran	15.5 - 13.8	Argentina (Río Negro)	Neotamandua australis (74646)
Laventan	13.8 - 11.0	Colombia (Huila)	Neotamandua borealis (136211 187114)
Montehermosan	5.0 - 3.8	Argentina (Buenos Aires)	Myrmecophaga caroloameghinoi, Nunezia caroloameghinoi (198863) Myrmecophaga sp. (199153) Nunezia caroloameghinoi (13503)
Montehermosan - Chapadmalalan	5.0 - 3.0	Argentina (Catamarca)	Neotamandua sp. (157795)
Blancan	4.9 - 1.8	Mexico (Sonora)	Myrmecophaga tridactyla (20322)
Late/Upper Pliocene - Early/Lower Pleistocene	3.6 - 0.781	Venezuela (Monagas)	Myrmecophaga sp. (144977)
Pleistocene	2.588 - 0.0117	Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul)	Myrmecophagidae indet. (230758)
Late/Upper Pleistocene - Holocene	0.129 - 0.0	Brazil (Bahia)	Myrmecophaga tridactyla (71313)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Brazil (Districto Agropecura)	Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Tamandua tetradactyla (21687)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Peru	Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Tamandua tetradactyla (21689)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Venezuela (Guarico)	Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Tamandua tetradactyla (21686)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Panama	Tamandua mexicana (21691)