| Ernanodon antelios Temporal range: 60–55 Ma Late Paleocene |
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | ?Cimolesta ?Xenarthra |
| Family: | Ernanodontidae |
| Genus: | Ernanodon |
| Species: | E. antelios Ting, 1979 (type) |
Ernanodon antelios is an extinct placental mammal from the late Paleocene of China. When it was first discovered and examined, it was thought to be a primitive anteater. E. antelios and Eurotamandua of Eocene Germany helped to support a hypothesis that there was movement between the faunas of South America (the homeland of anteaters and other xenarthrans), and the faunas of Europe and Asia, by way of North America. This was further supported by the alleged European phorusrhacid Aenigmavis, also of Eocene Germany. The view of E. antelios being an anteater has been discarded, and the idea that there was any extensive Paleocene faunal interchange with South America has been rethought due to Eurotamandua being now regarded as a scaleless pangolin, and the various European phorusracids being reidentified as being owl-like sophornithids.
E. antelios' placement within Xenarthra is further questioned because it lacks the distinctive joints that characterize Xenarthra, the same reason why Eurotamandua is no longer regarded as a xenarthran, also. Some experts now suggest that E. antelios was actually a cimolestid, a member of a diverse group of possum-like placental mammals possibly related to the order Carnivora and the pangolins.