Eurotamandua

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Eurotamandua
Fossil range: Mid Eocene

Extinct (fossil)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Pholidota
Family:	Manidae
Genus:	Eurotamandua

Eurotamandua ('European tamandua') is an extinct genus of pangolin. It was about 90 cm (3 ft) long. When it was first discovered, it was originally thought to be an anteater, as it did not have the characteristic fused-hair scales of other pangolins.

Eurotamandua was one of the first members of the family, but aside from its lack of scales, it already bore all typical characteristics: long claws, a long tail, a strongly elongated snout and most likely the same long, sticky tongue. Presumably it also fed on ants and termites. Eurotamandua got its name because it strongly resembled modern arboreal anteaters of the genus Tamandua.

While Eurotamandua is the most anatomically primitive known pangolin, it is not the ancestor of modern pangolins, as the Eocene pangolin, Eomanis is its contemporary. It is presumed that Eomanis and Eurotamandua diverged from a common ancestor either during the late Paleocene, or the early Eocene.